MOV  30  1898 


K.  G. 

APR  28  1900 


CHRONICLES 


NEW   HAVEN  GREEN 


FROM  1638  TO  1862 


A    SERIES    OF    PAPERS    READ    BEFORE    THE    NEW 
HAVEN    COLONY    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY 


BY 

HENRY    T.  BLAKE 


NEW    HAVEN: 
THE    TUTTLE,  MOREHOUSE    &   TAYLOR    PRESS 


StacK 
Annex 

S" 


8-3(0 


I   INSCRIBE  THIS   BOOK   TO   THE 
MEMORY   OF 


{Tbomas  "Kutbcrford 


A   LOVER  AND   BENEFACTOR   OF   NEW   HAVEN   GREEN  ; 

BY   WHOSE  LAMENTED  DEATH 

THE   NEW   HAVEN  COLONY   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 
IS    BEREAVED    OF    AN    EFFICIENT    PRESIDENT  AND  A 

DEVOTED  AND   VALUED   MEMBER  ; 
OUR   COMMUNITY    OF    AN    UPRIGHT,    GENEROUS    AND 

HONORED   CITIZEN  ; 

AND    I    MYSELF    OF    A    SINCERE    AND 
CHERISHED    FRIEND. 


PREFATORY. 


The  following  papers  were  read  before  the  New  Haven 
Colony  Historical  Society  at  different  times  between  1894  and 
1898  and  are  published  after  being  carefully  revised  and  in 
many  parts  re-written.  Acknowledgment  is  due  to  friends 
who  have  aided  the  writer,  and  especially  to  Prof.  Franklin  B. 
Dexter,  Mr.  Horace  Day  and  Mr.  Thomas  R.  Trowbridge. 

The  maps  of  the  Green  contained  in  this  volume  are  repro- 
duced for  this  work  from  well  known  maps  of  New  Haven  of 
the  periods  indicated.  "Brown's  map  of  1724"  was  copied 
from  the  original  by  President  Stiles  at  a  later  date.  In  it  the 
meeting-house  is  incorrectly  placed  in  the  center  of  the  square, 
and  neither  the  then  newly-built  Grammar  School  near  the 
jail,  nor  the  older  school-house  then  used  for  the  English 
School,  is  shown,  both  of  which  appear  in  Wadsworth's  map 
of  twenty-five  years  later.  "Wadsworth's  map  of  1748"  was 
made  from  actual  surveys  and  is  doubtless  substantially  cor- 
rect. "President  Stiles'  map  of  New  Haven  in  1775"  was 
drawn  on  a  sheet  of  letter  paper  and  was"  consequently  too 
small  to  be  entirely  reliable.  Curiously  enough,  President 
Stiles  omits  from  it,  as  in  Brown's  map,  both  the  school- 
houses,  though  both  were  then  still  in  existence  and  use. 
The  "Doolittle  map  of  1817"  was  engraved  on  copper  by  Amos 
Doolittle  and  first  issued  by  him  in  1817.  In  1824  he  again 
published  it  with  the  requisite  alterations  and  the  later  date. 
The  plan  of  the  Green  in  this  volume  is  copied  from  an  imprint 
of  1817.  In  this  map  no  liberty  pole  appears  on  the  Green, 
and  the  First  Trinity  Church  and  the  Blue  Meeting-house  are 


8  PREFATORY. 

both  shown  as  still  standing.  It  also  shows  a  public  well  on 
the  Green  near  the  corner  of  Chapel  and  Temple  streets,  but 
none  at  the  corner  of  Chapel  and  Church  streets,  although 
the  latter  was  dug  in  1813  and  the  pump  over  it  is  shown  in  a 
contemporary  picture. 

Several  of  the  half-tone  illustrations  in  the  volume  have  been 
taken  by  permission  from  Miss  Bartlett's  charming  and  beauti- 
ful book  "Historical  Sketches  of  New  Haven."  The  others 
and  also  the  wood  cuts  have  been  obtained  from  various 
sources  through  the  courtesy  of  the  owners. 


THE 


CHRONICLES  OF  NEW  HAVEN  GREEN 


FROM  1638  TO  1862. 


I. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  GREEN  AS  A  PUBLIC  SQUARE. 

The  Green  as  we  see  it  to-day  embraces  within  its  area 
a  fraction  over  sixteen  acres.  Its  shape  is  not  quite  square, 
there  being  a  difference  of  twenty  feet  between  its  sides 
on  College  and  Chapel  streets  and  of  ten  feet  between  Col- 
lege and  Elm.  The  average  length  of  its  sides  is  about 
840  feet  and  the  distance  around  it  a  little  over  two-thirds 
of  a  mile. 

It  was  laid  out  in  June  or  July,  1638,  by  John  Brockett, 
"Surveyor,"  as  he  is  called  in  the  records,  at  the  same  time 
with  the  other  eight  squares  of  the  town  plot,  this  central 
square  being  reserved  as  "a  market  place."  There  is  no 
formal  record  of  the  reservation,  but  it  is  designated  "the 
market  place"  in  the  earliest  reference  to  it  in  the  records, 
which  is  on  October  30,  1639,  and  continuously  thereafter; 
and  its  uses  have  always  been  in  accordance  with  its  desig- 
nation. The  sequestration  of  so  large  a  tract  for  public 
use  was  somewhat  remarkable  for  those  times  and  indicates 
a  wise  and  liberal  forethought  in  our  ancestors.  Possibly 
the  example  of  Boston,  from  which  place  they  had  just 
come,  may  have  had  its  influence,  yet  our  forefathers  did 


10  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

not  exactly  imitate  that  example.  It  was  not  a  "common" 
that  they  meant  to  have  in  the  center  of  their  city;  not  a 
mere  open  field  without  ownership  and  without  buildings 
for  the  public  accommodation  as  a  place  of  pasture  and 
popular  gatherings  and  military  parades.  Says  Rev.  Dr. 
Bacon  in  his  civic  oration  of  May  30,  1879:  The  Green 
"was  designed  not  as  a  park  or  mere  pleasure  ground,  but 
as  a  place  for  public  buildings,  for  military  parades  and 
exercises,  for  the  meeting  of  buyers  and  sellers,  for  the 
concourse  of  the  people,  for  all  such  public  uses  as  were 
reserved  of  old  by  the  Forum  at  Rome  and  the  'Agora' 
(called  in  our  English  bibles  'the  market')  at  Athens,  and 
in  more  recent  times  by  the  great  Square  of  St.  Mark  in 
Venice;  or  by  the  'market  place'  in  many  a  city  of  those 
low  countries,  with  which  some  of  our  founders  had  been 
familiar  before  their  coming  to  this  New  World."  It  has 
in  fact  been  put  to  more  uses  than  Dr.  Bacon  enumerates, 
for  within  its  limits  six  generations  educated  their  children 
and  buried  their  dead,  purposes  to  which  the  Forum,  the 
Agora  and  the  market  place  were  not  devoted,  and  which 
practically  complete  the  range  of  possible  uses  of  a  public 
nature.  Hence  New  Haven  Green  has  been  identified,  to  a 
degree  that  Boston  Common  has  not,  with  all  the  important 
transactions  and  events  connected  with  the  religious,  polit- 
ical and  civil  life  of  the  surrounding  community,  and  so  is 
richer  in  historic  associations  of  a  local  character. 

As  the  Green  was  not  an  imitation  of  Boston  Common, 
so  the  Boston  appellation  never  attached  to  it.  In  all  the 
various  records  which  have  been  kept  in  New  Haven  I  have 
met  with  but  a  single  instance  where  it  was  called  "the 
common"  and  that  was  in  a  record  of  the  County  Court. 
In  two  cases  connected  with  the  public  proclamation  of 
Royal  accessions  it  is  dignified  as  "The  Great  Square,"  but 
with  these  and  perhaps  two  or  three  other  exceptions,  its 
uniform  designation,  not  only  in  all  local  records,  but  in  all 
contemporary  literature,  was  "the  market  place"  until  about 
1759.  Then  for  the  first  time  (so  far  as  I  have  yet  dis- 


DEVELOPMENT   AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  11 

covered)  the  name  "the  Green"  appears.  It  is  found  in  an 
advertisement  in  the  Connecticut  Gazette  of  April  21,  1759, 
in  which  Samuel  Gilbert  announces  a  house  for  sale  "on  the 
southeast  corner  of  the  Green  in  New  Haven."  It  would 
seem  from  this  that  the  name  was  not  unknown  at  that 
time,  yet  it  crops  out  nowhere  else  for  fifteen  years.  It 
is  next  discovered  in  another  advertisement  in  the  Connecti- 
cut Journal  of  May  13,  1774,  inserted  by  Joseph  Smith, 
who  offers  English  and  India  goods  at  his  store,  "at  the 
southeast  corner  of  the  Green,  near  the  church,  in  New 
Haven."  This  advertisement  is  repeated  in  subsequent 
issues  of  the  paper,  yet  ptill  "the  market  place"  is  the  only 
designation  elsewhere  appearing. 

By  1779  the  new  appellation  must  have  attained  a  foot- 
ing in  popular  use,  for  President  Daggett,  July  26,  1779, 
in  narrating  the  involuntary  walking  trip  which  he  took 
with  the  British  troops  after  his  capture,  speaks  feelingly 
of  the  pleasure  with  which  he  finally  reached  "the  Green," 
and  thenceforth  we  meet  with  the  designation  quite  fre- 
quently. After  1783  the  term  "market  place"  practically 
disappears  from  the  public  records.  The  city  government, 
which  came  into  operation  in  1784,  seemed  to  regard  "the 
Green"  as  too  rustic  an  appellation  for  an  aspiring  muni- 
cipality and  generally  used  "the  public  square"  as  a  more 
metropolitan  term.  Occasionally  an  effort  has  been  made 
to  introduce  "the  Public  Park"  as  a  more  dignified  title, 
but  the  popular  choice  seems  now  as  firmly  fixed  as  that 
of  the  milkmaid  in  the  spelling  book  with  regard  to  the 
color  of  her  May-day  gown,  "green  becomes  my  com- 
plexion best,  and  green  it  shall  be." 

Title  and  Jurisdiction. 

The  question,  "Who  owns  the  Green?"  has,  during  the 
past  ten  years,  been  more  than  once  the  theme  of  public 
discussion,  and  it  will  be  proper  to  devote  in  this  place  a 
few  paragraphs  to  the  subject. 


12  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

The  tract  of  land  embracing  the  New  Haven  plantation 
was  purchased  and  owned,  not  by  the  town  as  an  organiza- 
tion nor  by  the  whole  body  of  the  original  colonists,  but  by 
the  individuals  who  contributed  to  the  expense  of  the  enter- 
prise. These  were  known  as  "the  free  planters"  and  after- 
wards as  "the  proprietors."  They  and  their  successors  in 
ownership  were  and  remained  a  class  distinct  from  the 
political  body,  the  town,  and  are  so  recognized  in  the 
records.  They  retained  their  claim  to  title  in  the  soil  of  the 
market  place  as  well  as  of  other  common  and  undivided 
lands,  but  shared  with  the  other  members  of  the  body  politic 
the  right  of  admitting  new  comers  and  assigning  them  their 
places  of  habitation;  also  the  right  of  deciding  what  public 
buildings  should  be  erected  on  the  market  place.  The  title 
of  the  Proprietors  to  such  common  and  undivided  lands 
has  been  four  times  formally  recognized  and  confirmed 
by  the  General  Assembly  of  Colony  and  State.  First,  in 
1685,  when  it  issued  a  patent  to  the  New  Haven  Proprietors 
by  name.  Second,  in  1713,  when  the  patent  of  1685  was 
confirmed.  Third,  in  1810  under  the  circumstances  here- 
after mentioned.  Fourth,  in  1875,  when  a  general  statute 
was  enacted  confirming  previous  grants  to  proprietors  of 
common  and  undivided  lands  and  providing  that  such  lands 
still  remaining  should  vest  in  the  proprietors  as  their 
individual  estate. 

The  records  of  the  New  Haven  Proprietors  until  1724 
are  intermingled  with  those  of  the  town.  After  that  date 
they  are  kept  in  separate  volumes.  They  relate  to  the 
distribution  of  common  and  undivided  lands  among  the  sur- 
viving proprietors  and  their  representatives.  By  the  year 
1806  most  of  the  lands  had  been  divided  and  the  heirs  of 
the  original  proprietors  were  scattered  and  unknown. 
Accordingly  in  that  year  the  proprietors,  by  a  vote  which 
was  confirmed  by  the  General  Assembly  in  1810,  transferred 
all  their  interests,  rights  and  powers  to  a  permanent  self- 
perpetuating  committee  of  five,  known  thereafter  as  "the 
Proprietors'  Committee,"  and  vested  such  committee  with 


DEVELOPMENT    AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  13 

power  to  alienate  any  lands  that  might  still  remain  common 
and  undivided  with  the  advice  of  the  Selectmen  of  the  town 
and  for  the  benefit  of  the  town  treasury.* 

It  is  clear  therefore  that  the  legal  title  to  the  Green,  so 
far  as  one  can  be  said  to  exist,  is  held  by  the  Proprietors' 
Committee, f  and  by  virtue  of  their  ownership  they  claimed 
and  exercised  until  within  a  recent  period  the  right  to 
control  its  management,  and  gave  or  withheld  permission 
for  the  erection  of  buildings  upon  it  at  their  discretion. 
While  this  right  on  their  part  was  never  disputed  by  the 
town  or  city,  it  was  also  exercised  on  several  occasions  by 
one  or  the  other  of  the  latter  without  opposition  by  the 
Proprietors.  In  the  year  1856,  however,  an  act  was  passed 
by  the  State  Legislature  making  void  any  permission  there- 
after given  by  the  Proprietors'  Committee  for  the  erection 
of  any  structure  on  the  Green  unless  it  should  be  ratified 
by  vote  of  a  town  meeting.  Finally  in  1868,  by  the  City 
Charter  granted  in  that  year,  the  Court  of  Common  Council 
was  vested  with  the  entire  management  and  control  of  all 
the  public  squares  of  the  city,  and  this  provision,  which 
has  been  continued  in  the  subsequent  City  Charters,  is 
likely  to  be  permanent. 

It  will  be  observed,  however,  that  the  power  thus  con- 
ferred on  the  Common  Council  over  the  Green  is  one  to 
regulate,  not  to  impair  the  right  of  "public  use  for  a  market 
place,"  which  was  given  by  its  original  dedication  in  1638, 
and  confirmed  by  a  renewed  dedication  in  1757.  The  term 
"public  use  for  a  market  place"  would  probably  be  dif- 
ferently construed  by  the  courts  at  the  present  day  from 
the  sense  attached  to  it  by  our  predecessors,  who  lived 
under  different  social  and  other  conditions.  It  is  not  likely 
for  instance  that  the  erection  of  churches,  school-houses  or 
even  of  a  State  house  on  the  Green  would  now  be  regarded 
as  consistent  with  its  proper  public  use.  When  the  three 
churches  which  stand  on  it  were  built  however,  no  such 

*  See  Note  i  at  the  end  of  this  Paper.  f  See  Note  2. 


14:  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

doubt  had  arisen,  and  as  they  were  placed  there  by  legal 
authority  and  without  objection  they  have  doubtless 
acquired  the  right  to  remain  so  long  as  they  continue  to 
be  used  for  their  original  purpose.  The  question  of  their 
status  beyond  that  period  must  be  left  for  another  genera- 
tion to  settle. 

The  Green  from  1638  to  1666. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  trace  the  development  of  the 
Green  from  its  original  rude  condition  to  that  which  it 
presented  in  1862,  and  to  note  the  changes  in  its  appear- 
ance which  occurred  during  the  intervening  period. 

When  first  staked  out  in  1638,  the  market  place,  so  far 
as  it  could  be  separated  from  the  general  tract  of  wood- 
land composing  the  town  plot,  presented  itself  to  the  eye 
as  an  uneven  wooded  plain,  sloping  from  west  to  east,  the 
declivity  being  considerably  steeper  on  the  south  side  than 
on  the  north.  At  the  foot  of  the  slope  was  a  swamp  occupy- 
ing the  greater  part  of  what  is  now  the  lower  Green,  and 
overgrown  with  alder  bushes.  A  small  creek  collected  in 
this  swamp  and  flowed  southeasterly  through  the  woods 
for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  until  it  emptied  into  a  larger  stream 
called  East  creek  about  where  the  Wooster  street  railroad 
bridge  now  stands.  Around  this  tract  a  few  log  houses 
had  been  erected,  and  others  were  going  up,  but  the  clear- 
ings were  few  and  small  as  yet,  for  it  was  only  two  months 
after  the  celebrated  sermon  under  the  oak  tree  April  25, 
1638. 

For  the  next  year  and  a  half,  that  is,  until  October,  1639, 
the  settlers  were  so  fully  occupied  in  building  their  habi- 
tations, clearing  their  lots,  and  attending  to  their  crops,  that 
they  had  no  time  even  to  establish  their  civil  institutions, 
and  therefore  could  not  act  as  an  organized  community  in 
the  erection  of  public  buildings  and  in  other  works  of  public 
improvement.  They  did  find  leisure,  however,  as  Dr. 
Atwater  suggests  in  his  history  of  this  period,  to  hold  meet- 


DEVELOPMENT    AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  15 

ings  for  the  transaction  of  business  and  to  maintain  order 
according  to  Scripture  rules  by  the  pretty  frequent  infliction 
of  penalties  upon  pretty  numerous  evil-doers. 

The  town  government  was  finally  organized  October  25, 
1639,  and  its  first  act  was  to  try  and  convict  an  Indian 
named  Nepaupuck  for  murder,  which  it  did  with  alacrity 
and  despatch.  We  read  in  the  record  of  the  trial  that  the 
culprit  was  arrested  October  26,  and  set  in  the  stocks. 
Before  that  time  therefore  the  stocks  and  doubtless  the 
whipping  post  had  been  erected  on  the  market  place;  and 
thus  these  emblems  of  Christian  civilization  were  the  earliest 
tokens  of  its  dedication  to  free  institutions  and  public  enjoy- 
ment. Four  days  later,  that  is  on  October  30,  1639,  as 
the  record  tersely  informs  us,  "the  Indian's  head  was  cut 
off  and  pitched  upon  a  pole  in  the  market  place,"  this  being 
the  second  step  in  the  improvement  of  the  Green  and  the 
first  attempt  to  put  a  cheerful  face  upon  the  public  pleas- 
ure grounds. 

During  this  preliminary  year  and  a  half  there  were  no 
public  buildings  in  existence.  It  does  not  appear  where  the 
people  meanwhile  met  for  business  and  worship  except  in 
one  instance;  that  of  June  4,  1639,  when  the  free  planters 
assembled  most  appropriately  in  Mr.  Newman's  barn,  in 
order  to  form  a  stable  government.  But  now  that  the 
town  was  organized,  action  was  immediately  taken  to  sup- 
plement the  stocks  and  whipping  post  with  a  meeting- 
house, and  on  November  25,  1639,  it  was  ordered  that  one 
be  erected  fifty  feet  square  in  the  center  of  the  market  place. 
It  was  built  doubtless  from  timber  growing  on  the  square 
and  was  completed  sufficiently  for  use  during  the  ensuing 
summer,  that  is  about  July,  1640;  and  thereafter  all  public 
gatherings,  civil  as  well  as  religious,  so  long  as  it  stood, 
were  held  within  its  walls.  The  picture  in  several  histories 
of  New  Haven  which  is  generally  entitled  "the  first  meet- 
ing-house in  New  Haven,"  but  in  Dr.  Atwater's  book  more 
correctly  "a  meeting-house  of  the  seventeenth  century," 
shows  a  structure  more  elaborate  and  finished  than  the 


16  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

meeting-house  of  1638.  It  more  correctly  represents  the 
second  one,  built  several  years  later.  The  exterior  walls  of 
the  first  meeting-house  were  of  rude  plank  sawed  by  hand 
and  were  so  insecurely  constructed  that  they  soon  began  to 
spread  under  the  weight  of  the  roof  and  had  to  be  shored 
up.  Frequent  repairs  were  made  after  1651,  nevertheless  in 
1660  the  meeting-house  was  reported  to  be  in  a  dangerous 
state  and  the  town  drummer  was  ordered  "not  to  beate  in 
the  tower,  but  in  the  market  place,  where  he  can  be  heard 
distinkly."  In  1662  the  tower  was  taken  down.  In  1651 
it  was  ordered  that  "the  glass  windows  of  the  meeting- 
house be  taken  out  and  boards  be  fitted  in  for  warmth  in 
ye  winter,  the  boards  to  be  removed  in  summer  to  let  in  ye 
air."  As  the  meeting-house  was  the  place  in  which  not 
only  religious  services  were  held,  but  all  public  business 
transacted,  this  economical  mode  of  heating  the  building, 
however  conducive  to  comfort,  must  have  caused  occasional 
inconvenience. 

The  other  public  buildings  on  the  Green  during  the 
early  colonial  period  of  New  Haven  were  three  in  number. 
There  must  have  been  a  watch-house  before  June,  1640, 
for  at  that  time  a  nightly  watch  was  established  with  its 
quarters  in  "the  watch-house."  This  building  was  suffi- 
ciently commodious  to  accommodate  the  corps  of  watch- 
men, and  had  a  fire  place  and  chimney.  A  "prison-house" 
is  also  spoken  of  before  1660  as  having  "no  fire  in  it,"  and 
which  therefore  could  not  have  been  identical  with  the 
watch-house.  A  school-house  must  also  have  been  built 
before  1648,  for  the  records  show  that  repairs  were  made 
on  it  in  that  year.  The  "prison-house"  is  shown  in  Brown's 
map  of  1724  as  standing  near  College  street  about  opposite 
the  present  site  of  Lawrance  Hall,  and  it  was  then  called 
in  the  records  "the  old  prison-house."  The  watch-house 
presumably  stood  near  it,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  small 
building  shown  in  Brown's  map  as  a  wing  attached  to  the 
Court  House  of  1718  was  the  original  watch-house,  which 
had  been  used  as  a  Court  House  by  the  County  Court 


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s     *  ^ 

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ra 

D" 

THE   GREEN   AS   SHOWN   IN   BROWNS   MAP   OF   NEW   HAVEN   IN    1724. 


DEVELOPMENT   AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  17 

prior  to  the  erection  of  the  new  one  in  1718.  Color  is 
given  to  this  idea  by  the  fact  that  in  Wadsworth's  map  of 
1748  this  wing  is  called  "the  County  House"  and  is  shown 
to  have  had  a  chimney. 

Where  the  first  school-house  stood  has  been  the  subject 
of  various  conjectures.  One  theory  has  been  that  it  was 
on  the  lot  now  occupied  by  the  City  Hall,  but  this  is 
untenable,  as  that  lot  was  not  devoted  to  school  purposes 
till  1693.  Another  suggestion  is  that  it  stood  on  the  Green 
opposite  the  lot  just  mentioned.  This  also  is  improbable, 
as  that  part  of  the  Green  was  then  a  swamp  and  continued 
to  be  such  for  many  years  later.  For  reasons  which  I  shall 
give  in  another  paper  I  am  satisfied  that  the  first  school- 
house  stood  on  the  Green  near  Elm  street,  a  little  west  of 
Temple  and  in  the  same  place  where  its  successor,  the 
brick  school-house,  was  built  in  1756. 

For  the  construction  of  these  public  buildings,  as  well 
as  for  private  houses  and  fences,  and  for  firewood  and  other 
uses,  timber  was  taken  from  the  market  place  and  the  sur- 
rounding streets;  but  the  work  of  clearing  proceeded  slowly, 
and  in  1645  a  special  order  was  made  by  the  town  that  the 
"market  place  be  forthwith  cleared  and  the  wood  carried 
to  the  watch-house  for  the  use  and  succor  of  the  watch  in 
cold  weather."  In  1649  there  was  still  some  timber  stand- 
ing and  the  sergeants  were  directed  "to  inquire  who  hath 
not  wrought  in  the  market  place,  that  they  might  cut  some 
wood  out  to  furnish  more  firewood  for  the  watchmen." 
Grass  also  began  to  appear  and  was  protected,  for  in 
March,  1654,  all  men  were  "desired  to  take  notice  that  if 
any  cut  up  any  English  grass  which  grows  about  ye  market 
place,  ye  streets  or  other  comon  to  plant  in  their  own 
ground  they  must  expect  to  receive  due  punishment  for 
the  same." 

In  1665,  the  year  that  New  Haven  united  with  Connecti- 
cut, had  we  again  inspected  the  market  place  we  should 
probably  have  found  it  and  the  surrounding  streets  sub- 
stantially free  from  trees.  Its  surface  was  irregular,  and 


18  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

rough  with  stumps  and  stones.  The  declivity  on  the 
Chapel  street  side  showed  more  conspicuously  than  before 
the  clearing.  The  swamp  toward  Church  street  was  prob- 
ably less  marshy  than  before,  and  the  stream  at  the  south- 
east corner  of  the  Green  must  have  been  provided  for  in 
some  way;  perhaps  by  draining  it  through  a  channel  under 
a  bridge.  Toward  the  northern  end  of  the  swamp,  that  is 
to  say,  about  opposite  where  the  Law  Chambers  building 
now  stands  on  Church  street,  a  causeway  and  footpath 
had  been  constructed  across  it  about  1647;  principally  for 
the  convenience  of  Mr.  Davenport  and  Gov.  Eaton,  who 
lived  on  opposite  sides  of  Elm  street,  just  below  Orange. 
Some  alder  bushes  probably  remained  along  the  edges  of 
the  bog.  The  buildings  on  the  market  place  were  now  in 
open  view.  There  was  the  rude  unpainted  meeting-house 
in  the  center,  shored  up  by  timbers  on  the  outside,  its 
turret  removed  three  years  before  for  safety,  and  the  whole 
building  in  danger  of  collapse.  Around  it  was  a  small 
colony  of  desolate  graves,  with  here  and  there  a  headstone 
or  tablet.  On  the  northern  side  of  the  square  was  the 
school-house,  somewhat  enlarged  and  improved  from  its 
original  construction  and  regarded  with  some  pride  by  the 
community  as  the  first  edifice  of  a  future  college.  Near 
the  top  of  the  slope  were  two  one-story  cabins,  not  far  from 
the  present  line  of  College  street.  These  were  the  watch- 
house,  and  the  prison-house.  In  front  of  the  prison  were 
the  stocks.  In  our  ignorance  of  such  constructions  we 
might  have  wondered  where  was  the  whipping  post.  In 
answer  to  such  an  inquiry  our  attention  would  probably 
have  been  called  to  the  high  posts  supporting  the  frame 
of  the  stocks,  one  at  each  end,  and  we  should  have  been 
informed  that  it  was  an  old  and  happy  invention  to  unite 
the  two  institutions  in  one,  thus  saving  expense  and  space, 
and  affording  when  both  were  in  operation,  as  they  fre- 
quently were,  a  combination  of  entertainments  doubly 
edifying  to  the  public. 


DEVELOPMENT    AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  19 

From  1665  to  1700. 

In  1668  the  old  meeting-house  had  become  too  unsafe 
for  further  use  and  a  new  one  was  commenced.  It  was 
completed  November,  1670,  and  the  old  one  was  then 
sold.  The  new  meeting-house  was  similar  in  general 
appearance  to  its  predecessor,  but  probably  better  finished 
in  its  appointments,  and  sufficiently  firmly  built  to  support 
the  roof  and  turret  without  shoring  up.  The  location  was 
in  front  of  its  predecessor,  just  beyond  the  easterly  side  of 
Temple  street.  Its  belfry  was  vacant  except  when  occupied 
by  the  town  drummer,  until  1682.  Then  a  vessel  having 
arrived  in  the  harbor  the  year  previous  with  a  bell  on 
board,  and  the  town  with  a  wise  precaution,  which  might 
well  be  imitated  in  modern  times,  having  tested  its  tone  for 
a  year  and  a  half  before  purchasing,  it  was  finally  accepted 
and  "hanged  in  the  turret"  as  a  town  bell.  In  the  mean- 
time (November  27,  1682),  Joseph  Pardee  had  been 
appointed  bellringer  "to  ring  ye  Bell  for  ye  town's  occasion 
on  ye  Sabbaths  and  other  meetings  as  was  wont  by  ye 
Drum  and  all  soe  to  ring  ye  bell  at  nine  of  ye  clock  every 
night." 

Then  began  that  music  of  Sabbath  bells  which  has  since 
continued  to  vibrate  over  the  Green  for  more  than  two 
hundred  years,  and  then  began  also,  by  vote  of  the  town, 
the  nine  o'clock  bell,  which  was  maintained,  though  per- 
haps with  some  intermissions,  until  about  1836. 

Between  1665  and  1700  there  was  little  change  in  the 
appearance  of  the  Green.  The  meeting-house  was  en- 
larged in  1697  and  somewhat  improved  by  successive 
repairs.  Some  local  pride  began  to  be  felt  in  the  market 
place,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  occasional  outbreaks  of 
public  spirit  in  the  town  meetings,  which  expressed 
itself  in  votes  leveled  at  invading  geese  and  persistent 
stink  weed.  After  repeated  condemnations,  the  stink 
weed  seems  to  have  surrendered,  but  the  geese  proved 
too  obdurate  and  too  sagacious  a  foe  for  our  ancestors  to 


20  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

successfully  cope  with.  There  seems  to  have  existed  in 
our  forefathers  an  intolerance  of  geese,  which  has  consid- 
erably ameliorated  in  their  descendants.  The  town  records 
for  many  years  show  toward  swine,  cattle  and  "horsekind," 
a  system  of  license,  or  at  least  local  option,  with  respect 
to  wandering  at  large,  but  nothing  is  extended  to  geese 
but  stern  prohibition,  of  which  the  following  vote,  passed 
in  town  meeting,  December  2.,  1798,  is  an  illustration:  "No 
goose  or  gander  shall  be  permitted  to  go  at  large  within 
ye  limits  of  the  town  of  New  Haven  unless  such  goose  or 
gander  shall  be  well  yoked  with  a  yoke  at  least  twelve 
inches  long.  And  if  any  goose  or  gander  shall  be  found 
going  at  large  as  aforesaid  without  such  yoke,  such  goose 
or  gander  shall  be  liable  to  be  impounded,  and  ye  fee  for 
impounding  such  goose  or  gander,  if  taken  damage  fesant 
shall  pay  five  cents  and  be  holden  to  pay  such  damage." 

From  1700  to  1784. 

In  1701  New  Haven  became  a  co-capital  with  Hartford, 
and  the  General  Assembly,  which  then  met  twice  a  year, 
commenced  holding  its  October  sessions  here.  In  1719 
the  first  State  House  in  New  Haven  was  built  on  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  Green  adjoining  the  County  House. 
Thenceforth  the  State  House  was  used  not  only  by  the 
Legislature,  but  the  courts  and  is  sometimes  called  the 
Court  House  and  sometimes  the  State  House,  in  con- 
temporary records.  The  old  jail  was  also  raised  one  story 
and  enlarged  so  as  to  include  a  prison  keeper's  house.  In 
1723  a  new  school-house  was  built  for  the  Grammar 
School  on  the  College  street  side  of  the  Green,  having  the 
great  advantages  of  the  grave-yard  in  front  and  the  jail  and 
whipping  post  immediately  contiguous  to  furnish  moral 
object  lessons  to  the  pupils.  The  old  school-house  near 
Elm  street  remained  standing  and  was  used  for  an  English 
school  until  1756,  when  it  was  torn  down  and  a  brick 
school-house  erected  on  the  same  site.  When  Wads- 


DEVELOPMENT    AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  21 

worth's  map  was  made  in  1748  this  brick  school-house  had 
not  been  built  and  the  old  school-house  is  shown  upon  it, 
as  also  the  other  public  buildings  above  referred  to.  The 
old  burial  ground  had  by  that  time  become  considerably 
enlarged  and  was  crowded  with  tombstones,  but  was  over- 
grown with  weeds  and  traversed  by  footpaths,  and  except 
when  cheered  by  an  occasional  funeral  presented  a  dismal 
and  neglected  appearance. 

In  1756  the  third  meeting-house  was  erected,  after- 
wards known  as  the  "Brick  Meeting-house."  It  was 
seventy-two  feet  long  and  fifty  feet  wide  and  stood  a  little 
east  of  the  present  site  of  the  Center  Church,  its  longest 
line  being  north  and  south,  and  it  had  a  steeple  at  its  north 
end.  Its  east  side  had  an  entrance,  the  steps  of  which 
projected  into  Temple  street  when  that  street  was  after- 
wards laid  out.  This  meeting-house  was  erected  not  like 
its  predecessors,  by  the  town,  but  by  the  Church  of  the 
First  Ecclesiastical  Society,  a  result  of  doctrinal  contro- 
versies and  the  formation  of  new  religious  societies  in 
consequence. 

About  1759  occurred  the  first  important  step  in  the 
improvement  of  the  Green  by  the  planting  of  shade  trees. 
Dr.  Dexter,  in  his  paper  on  New  Haven  in  1884,  refers  to 
it,  quoting  from  an  "Essay  on  Tree  Planting,"  written  by 
Jared  Eliot  in  1760,  which  contains  the  only  contemporary 
account  of  it  so  far  as  I  know.  He  says:  "I  observed  in 
New  Haven  they  have  planted  a  range  of  trees  all  around 
the  market  place  and  secured  them  from  the  ravages  of 
beasts.  This  was  an  undertaking  truly  generous  and 
laudable.  It  is  a  pity  they  were  not  mulberry  instead  of 
buttonwood  and  elm."  Dr.  Dexter  suggests  that  the 
large  buttonwood  tree  now  standing  in  Elm  street  nearly 
opposite  the  Methodist  church  may  be  a  relic  of  this  plant- 
ing. Probably  also,  some  of  the  large  elms  in  the  row  sur- 
rounding the  Green,  which  are  outside  of  its  enclosure, 
were  planted  at  this  time.* 

*  See  Note  3. 


22  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

At  the  time  of  the  British  invasion  in  1779,  Gen.  Garth, 
it  is  said,  declared  that  the  town  was  "too  pretty  to  burn." 
Thus  it  was  perhaps  these  trees,  then  half  grown,  which 
with  the  potent  assistance  of  Santa  Cruz  rum,  saved  New 
Haven  from  the  fate  of  Fairfield  and  Norwalk. 

In  1763,  through  the  efforts  of  the  New  Haven  County 
Bar,  a  body  then  as  now  always  full  of  zeal  and  public  spirit 
in  behalf  of  improvements  when  the  county  pays  the  bills, 
a  new  Court  and  State  House  was  erected  on  the  Green  by 
the  county,  the  General  Assembly  subsequently  contribu- 
ting £1,000  therefor,  estimated  to  be  about  one-third  of  its 
cost.  This  edifice  stood  on  Temple  street  (not  then  laid 
out,  however)  between  the  new  Brick  Meeting-house  and 
the  present  site  of  Trinity  Church.*  Its  predecessor,  near 
the  corner  of  College  and  Elm  streets,  continued  to  grace 
that  vicinity  for  several  years.  In  the  meantime  it  was 
used  for  various  purposes.  Early  in  the  Revolution  it  was 
known  as  "the  Town  House,"  where  the  selectmen  had 
their  office.  Town  meetings,  however,  were  held  in  the 
new  Court  House.  From  1767  to  1772  it  also  contained 
the  printing  office  of  Thomas  and  Samuel  Green,  publishers 
of  the  Connecticut  Journal  and  Postboy,  the  paper  which 
after  several  changes  of  name  is  now  the  Morning  Journal 
and  Courier.  Later  on  the  building  became  a  shop  for 
metal  buttons.  It  was  taken  down,  as  we  shall  see  here- 
after, between  1780  and  1790. 

In  1769,  by  permission  of  the  Proprietors,  the  Fair  Haven 
society  erected  "a  house  for  public  worship  on  ye  south 
end  of  the  brick  school-house"  and  a  little  east  of  the 
present  site  of  the  North  Church.  It  was  of  wood,  painted 
white,  and  about  as  large  as  the  Brick  Meeting-house.  Its 
longest  line  was  north  and  south  and  its  steeple  was  on 
the  south  end.  Several  pictures  in  the  possession  of  the 
society,  some  of  which  have  been  engraved,  render  the 
appearance  of  the  three  buildings  on  the  Green  at  this 
period  familiar  to  all.  Before  1775  a  rough  board  fence 

*  See  Note  4. 


DEVELOPMENT    AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  23 

painted  red  had  been  constructed  around  the  burying 
ground.  This  fence  is  shown  in  Stiles'  map  of  1775  as 
well  as  the  trees  around  the  square  which  had  been  planted 
in  1759,  and  the  general  appearance  of  the  Green  is  there 
given  as  it  must  have  presented  itself  to  the  eyes  of  our 
British  visitors  in  1779,  when  Gen.  Garth  remarked  that 
the  town  was  too  pretty  to  burn.  Considering  that  the 
invaders  had  been  so  persistently  and  vigorously  opposed 
on  their  march,  and  had  been  forced  thereby  to  make  a 
long  and  tiresome  journey  of  several  miles  under  a  hot 
July  sun,  it  is  remarkable  that  they  did  little  if  any  damage 
to  the  public  buildings  and  left  the  Green  in  about  the 
same  condition  as  they  found  it.  It  is  very  doubtful 
whether  Coxey's  army,  if  compelled  to  do  the  same  amount 
of  work,  would  have  shown  half  the  forbearance. 

From  1784  to  iSoo. 

In  February,  1784,  the  first  City  Charter  of  New  Haven 
went  into  effect,  and  from  this  period  dates  a  new  era  in  the 
history  of  the  market  place  or  "Green,"  as  it  was  now  com- 
ing to  be  generally  called.  The  Charter  contained  a 
singular  provision,  as  follows:  "And  said  city  shall  have 
power  to  exchange  that  part  of  the  Green  in  said  New 
Haven  lying  northwesterly  of  the  public  buildings  (i.  e. 
almost  the  entire  upper  Green)  for  other  lands,  for  high- 
ways or  another  Green,  and  to  sell  and  dispose  thereof  for 
that  purpose." 

In  order  to  account  for  this  section  in  the  charter,  it 
has  been  suggested  that  it  was  inserted  on  account  of  some 
friction  between  the  town  and  the  proprietors,  and  as  a 
warning  to  the  proprietors  not  to  further  assert  ownership 
in  or  jurisdiction  over  the  Green.  But  I  find  no  evidence 
of  any  such  friction  having  existed,  and  the  provisions  of 
the  section  do  not  appear  adapted  to  protect  the  Green 
from  alienation,  but  the  contrary.  It  seems  to  me  rather 
to  indicate  that  the  habit  of  using  the  upper  portion  of 


24:  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

the  Green  for  building  purposes  had  lessened  the  public 
appreciation  of  its  value  as  an  open  pleasure  ground,  and 
had  suggested  its  use  as  a  piece  of  merchandise  to  make 
bargains  with. 

However  this  may  be,  the  authority  given  by  the  State 
to  the  city  to  sell  land  which  belonged  to  neither,  and 
which  had  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  been  used  as 
a  market  place  in  accordance  with  its  original  dedication, 
was  certainly  extraordinary  and  of  course  totally  invalid. 
Happily  if  any  disposition  existed  to  make  such  sale  it 
never  showed  itself  afterwards. 

There  were  men  at  that  time  in  New  Haven,  like  Hill- 
house  and  Austin,  who  not  only  understood  the  value  of 
the  public  square,  but  were  about  to  awaken  a  new  pride 
and  public  spirit  in  its  preservation  and  improvement.  The 
first  steps  in  that  improvement  began  immediately.  In 
the  summer  of  1784  the  old  jail  was  moved  bodily  off  the 
Green  to  the  opposite  side  of  College  street.  Probably  the 
ancient  State  House  and  still  more  ancient  County  House 
were  demolished  about  the  same  time,  as  we  hear  no  more 
about  them.  Their  next  neighbor,  the  dilapidated  Gram- 
mar School-house  (built  in  1723)  appears  to  have  survived 
a  few  years  longer,  according  to  the  recollection  of  the  late 
President  Day.  On  September  22  of  the  same  year,  the 
thoroughfare  across  the  Green  in  front  of  the  public  build- 
ings was  extended  through  to  Grove  street  and  the  whole 
named  Temple  street.  On  the  same  day  the  other  streets 
of  the  city  received  for  the  first  time  their  present  names. 

In  April,  1785,  the  Common  Council  granted  permission 
"  to  erect  a  market  house  by  private  subscription  on  Chapel 
street  at  the  southeast  corner  of  the  Green."  As  the  Green 
was  then  unfenced  and  its  boundaries  indistinguishably 
merged  in  the  surrounding  streets,  this  market-house  may 
have  encroached  on  its  area.  As  there  were  already  two 
market-houses  in  the  City  (one  at  the  end  of  Church  street 
and  the  other  in  Chapel  street  over  the  Creek)  this  one  was 
probably  little  used,  and  in  June,  1790,  the  Common  Coun- 


FIRST  COUPI-HO 


•  a  1 1  tjj 

^L«Q«J 

BUILT    1868 


JO   8URROUCMS 


eg 


THK   GREEN   AS   SHOWN    IN    WADSWORTH's   MAP    OF   NEW   HAVEN   IN    1748. 


DEVELOPMENT    AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  25 

cil  was  considering  the  expediency  of  purchasing  it  for  a 
work-house.  It  was  removed  sometime  before  1800  and 
sold  for  a  cooper  shop.* 

It  may  be  worth  while  at  this  place  to  refer  to  a  state- 
ment which  has  been  repeatedly  published,  to  the  effect  that 
at  one  period  "there  was  on  the  Green,  near  the  Elm  and 
Church  street  corners,  a  pen  for  swine."  I  have  been 
unable  to  find  any  authority  for  this  statement  and  do  not 
believe  that  there  is  any  truth  in  the  tradition.  Cattle  were 
pastured  on  the  Green  till  August,  1821,  at  which  time  the 
Common  Council  appointed  a  committee  "to  confer  with 
the  contractors  for  the  field  and  pasturage  of  the  eastern 
section  of  the  public  square  in  regard  to  rescinding  the 
contract  and  to  rescind  the  same  on  such  terms  as  they 
think  best."  In  1827  the  Committee  on  Care  of  the  Public 
Square  was  directed  "  to  prevent  horses  and  cattle  from 
feeding  thereon." 

Prior  to  1800  the  Green  was  entirely  uninclosed  and  in 
consequence  was  used  as  a  common  thoroughfare  for  all 
sorts  of  travel.  The  great  road  from  Litchfield  and  the 
west,  which  was  the  only  entrance  to  town  from  that  quarter, 
entered  the  Green  at  the  corner  of  College  and  Elm  streets 
and  ran  diagonally  across  it  to  Thaddeus  Beecher's  tavern 
at  the  corner  of  Chapel  and  Church  streets.  To  prevent 
such  encroachments  a  city  meeting  in  April,  1784,  with 
commendable  public  spirit,  voted  that  "the  southeast  part  of 
the  Green  might  be  enclosed  by  any  number  of  gentlemen 
who  should  agree  to  defray  the  expense  thereof  in  such 
manner  as  to  exclude  passengers,  footmen  excepted." 
After  waiting  fourteen  years  for  some  one  to  accept  this 
generous  offer  another  city  meeting  in  1798  enlarged  it  by 
granting  permission  "to  rail  in  both  sections  of  the  Green 
without  expense  to  the  city  under  the  direction  of  James 
Hillhouse,  David  Austin  and  Isaac  Beers,  Esqrs."  Even 
this  liberality  seemed  not  to  be  appreciated,  for  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  1799,  the  city  again  raised  its  bid  by  giving  con- 

*  See  Note  5. 


26  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

sent  that  the  "Green  or  Public  Square  might  be  levelled  and 
the  upper  and  lower  portions  railed  in  and  water  courses 
made  for  carrying  off  the  water  under  the  direction  of  Pier- 
pont  Edwards,  James  Hillhouse  and  Isaac  Beers,  provided 
it  could  be  done  without  expense  to  the  city."  Stimulated 
at  last  by  such  unexampled  munificence,  a  subscription 
paper  was  started  and  $2,000  raised,  and  in  the  following 
year,  1800,  the  first  fence  around  the  Green  was  an  accom- 
plished fact.  It  was  of  wood,  having  squared  and  pointed 
posts  and  an  upper  and  lower  rail  which  were  also 
squared.  It  stood  till  1846,  when  it  was  succeeded  by  the 
present  fence,  the  old  one  being  removed  to  Milford.* 
How  much  levelling  and  grading  was  done  does  not  appear, 
but  the  surface  of  the  Green  remained  quite  uneven  for 
many  years  later,  and  the  eastern  side  was  more  or  less 
boggy  in  wet  weather  until  after  1820.  I  am  informed  by 
T.  R.  Trowbridge  that  his  father  gathered  the  iris  there  as 
late  as  1821.  These  improvements  resulted  in  greatly 
increasing  the  grass  crops  on  the  Green,  so  that  in  1801 
and  for  several  years  thereafter  the  city  annually  voted  to 
sell  them,  "and  to  use  the  avails  in  the  improvement  of  the 
public  square."  Thus  the  new  century  opened  auspiciously 
with  an  awakened  pride  and  interest  in  the  Green  and  a 
growing  public  spirit  for  its  protection  and  improvement. 
Dr.  Manassas  Cutler,  in  his  account  of  a  visit  to  New 
Haven  in  1787,  says  that  the  trees  which  had  been  set  out 
in  1759  around  the  Green,  were  then  large  and  added  much 
to  its  beauty.  He  also  says  that  a  row  across  the  center 
had  then  been  very  lately  set  out,  "in  a  line  with  the  State 
House,  two  large  meeting-houses  and  the  Grammar  school- 
house."  This  row  along  Temple  street  was  the  first  row 
of  trees  planted  inside  the  Green  and  was  the  precursor 
of  the  more  extensive  tree-planting  between  that  date  and 
1796  by  Mr.  Hillhouse  and  Mr.  Austin. f  The  story  has 
been  so  often  told  that  it  need  not  be  here  repeated.  Most 
of  the  planting  at  that  time  was  in  the  lower  Green.  Mr. 

*  See  Note  6.  f  See  Note  7. 


DEVELOPMENT    AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  27 

Hillhouse  is  said  to  have  planted  a  row  on  the  upper  Green 
in  1808,  probably  near  College  street,  some  of  which  were 
removed  when  the  Methodist  Church  and  the  last  State 
House  were  built.  This  section  remained,  however,  nearly 
bare  of  trees  (the  old  burial  ground  occupied  a  considerable 
portion  of  it  till  1821)  until  1839,  when  150  maples  and 
elms  were  set  out  upon  it  by  order  of  the  Common  Council. 

From  1800  to  1862. 

After  the  opening  of  the  Grove  Street  cemetery  in  1797, 
burials  on  the  Green  were  gradually  discontinued.  The 
last  was  that  of  Mrs.  Martha  Whittlesey  in  1812.  The 
first  disturbance  of  the  graves  took  place  in  1813,  when 
the  trenches  were  dug  for  the  foundations  of  the  present 
Center  Church.  This  church  was  the  first  to  be  erected 
of  the  three  now  on  the  Green,  but  the  last  in  the  order 
of  permissions  granted  for  such  erections.  The  first  per- 
mission was  given  to  Trinity  Society  at  a  town  meeting 
on  the  fourth  Monday  of  December,  1812,  and  the  third 
was  to  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society  at  the  same  town 
meeting  in  the  following  terms:  "Voted,  to  license  the  First 
Ecclesiastical  Society  to  build  a  new  brick  meeting-house 
and  to  extend  the  walls  as  far  westward  as  their  convenience 
may  require;  provided  this  license  do  not  vary  the  rights 
of  individuals."  As  it  was  to  stand  partly  on  ground 
occupied  by  its  predecessor,  the  old  brick  meeting-house, 
the  latter  was  demolished  before  the  present  church  was 
built.  The  new  edifice  was  finished  in  1814. 

In  1814  the  Fair  Haven  meeting-house  was  taken  down 
and  the  present  North  Church  erected.  Trinity  Church 
was  also  going  up  in  the  same  year  and  both  were  com- 
pleted in  1815.  The  tower  of  Trinity  was  originally  of 
wood  with  a  square  top,  having  a  pinnacle  at  each  corner. 
Says  Dr.  Dwight  in  his  account  of  New  Haven:  "The 
Episcopal  church  is  a  Gothic  building,  the  only  correct 
specimen  it  is  believed  in  the  United  States."  The  archi- 


28  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

tect  of  both  Trinity  and  Center  Churches  was  Ithiel  Towne, 
and  it  must  be  conceded  that  both  are  commendable  monu- 
ments to  his  professional  ability  and  good  taste.  The 
North  Church  is  hardly  less  creditable  as  an  architectural 
achievement,  it  having  been  designed  by  a  shoemaker, 
Ebenezer  Johnson,  a  member  of  the  United  Society. 

In  1821,  there  having  been  no  interment  in  the  old  burial 
ground  on  the  Green  since  1812,  the  fence  around  it  was 
removed  by  direction  of  a  city  meeting,  the  ground  graded, 
and  the  monuments  removed  to  the  Grove  Street  Cemetery. 

In  the  same  year  the  Methodist  Society  commenced 
building  a  large  brick  church  on  the  northwest  corner  of 
the  Green  under  a  permission  granted  by  the  town  the  year 
previous.  Many  worthy  members  of  the  society  feared 
that  the  edifice,  plain  as  it  was,  savored  too  much  of 
worldly  display,  and  it  is  said  that  at  the  laying  of  the  cor- 
ner-stone the  officiating  elder,  in  deference  to  these  doubts, 
prayed  fervently  that  if  the  proposed  structure  was  not  in 
accordance  with  the  divine  will  the  four  winds  of  heaven 
might  be  sent  to  level  it  with  the  ground.  Confident,  how- 
ever, that  no  such  purpose  was  in  contemplation,  the  devout 
congregation  placed  over  the  door  a  tablet  bearing  these 
words  of  faith  and  gratitude:  "Hitherto  hath  the  Lord 
helped  us."  Hardly  had  the  walls  risen  to  the  proper 
height  when  the  celebrated  gale  of  September,  1821, 
swooped  down  upon  them  and  laid  them  flat  as  the  walls 
of  Jericho. 

Happily  and  wisely,  however,  the  society  refused  to 
regard  this  result  as  an  answer  to  prayer  and  reconstructed 
their  fallen  sanctuary.  Nevertheless  they  strictly  enjoined 
the  incautious  elder  from  further  invocations  and  with  more 
fidelity  to  faith  than  fact  replaced  the  grateful  tablet. 
The  church  was  completed  in  1822,  a  plain,  square  brick 
building,  entirely  devoid  of  any  architectural  adornment. 
It  remained  till  1848.  In  that  year  the  society  decided  to 
build  a  new  church,  and  a  city  meeting,  influenced  by  the 
sentiment  then  beginning  to  prevail  that  the  Green  should 


FIRST   METHODIST   CHURCH. 
Built  1821— Removed  1848. 


DEVELOPMENT    AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  29 

be  kept  free  from  obstructions,  appropriated  $5,000  toward 
the  purchase  of  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  society  on 
the  corner  of  Elm  and  College  streets.  About  the  same 
sum  was  raised  by  private  efforts  and  the  old  building  was 
taken  down  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year. 

In  1828  the  building  of  a  new  State  and  Court  House 
on  the  Green  near  College  street  having  been  commenced, 
that  of  1763  was  dismantled — the  material  being  used,  in 
part,  in  the  construction  of  the  new  building.  As  the  new 
State  House  was  not  ready  for  occupancy  by  the  courts 
till  January,  1831,  their  sessions  were  held  in  the  meantime 
in  the  basement  of  the  Methodist  Church;  on  the  very  spot 
where  the  courts  were  held  in  earlier  time  for  nearly  one 
hundred  years,  that  is  from  1665  to  1763.  The  General 
Assembly  occupied  the  new  State  House  in  May,  1830, 
although  it  was  then  unfinished.  The  erection  of  this  State 
House  involved  the  raising  of  the  ground  at  its  north  end 
so  as  to  form  a  hill  about  twelve  feet  in  height,  and  this 
became  in  after  years  a  famous  coasting  place  for  boys, 
known  as  the  State  House  hill.  The  building  was  another 
monument  to  the  genius  of  the  architect,  Mr.  Ithiel  Towne. 
While  we  cannot  deeply  deplore  its  departure  after  its  use- 
fulness was  ended,  we  must  all  admire  its  merits  and  respect 
its  memory. 

In  1839,  as  already  stated,  by  vote  of  the  Common  Coun- 
cil, 150  maples  and  elms,  principally  maples,  were  set  out 
on  the  public  square.  The  maples  were  preferred  at  that 
time  on  account  of  the  liability  of  elms  to  be  ravaged  by 
the  measuring  worm,  or  canker  worm  as  it  was  generally 
called.  This  worm  has  appeared  at  intervals  since  1750, 
but  the  first  serious  experience  of  them  within  the  present 
century  occurred  in  1838.  Other  visitations  followed  at 
frequent  intervals  down  to  1850  and  later,  though  in  a 
modified  degree.  Prior  to  1846  for  several  years  before 
the  middle  of  June  the  trees  on  the  Green  were  stripped  as 
bare  as  in  the  depths  of  winter.  The  fence,  which  was  of 
wood,  painted  white,  was  so  covered  with  worms  as  to 


30  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

appear  entirely  black.  The  walks  were  literally  carpeted 
with  them,  and  the  air  was  full  of  their  squirming  forms 
descending  from  the  barren  branches.  Many  schemes  were 
proposed  for  their  extermination,  but  none  were  successful 
until  the  plan  was  adopted  of  surrounding  the  trunk  of 
every  tree  in  the  fall  of  the  year  with  large  tin  troughs 
filled  with  oil.  This  device  was  used  quite  generally,  but 
the  troughs  were  expensive  and  the  oil  was  blown  by  the 
wind  over  the  sidewalks  and  the  clothes  of  passers- 
by.  A  smaller  trough  was  then  used,  made  of  sheet  lead, 
and  these  were  placed  upon  the  elms  almost  universally 
throughout  the  city,  being  kept  in  order  and  supplied 
with  oil  by  annual  contract.  These  remedies,  continuously 
applied  for  several  years,  greatly  diminished  the  pest,  and 
of  late  the  last  of  the  lead  troughs  have  disappeared.  A 
band  of  cloth  or  paper  coated  with  tar  or  printer's  ink  is 
now  regarded  as  a  sufficient  protection. 

The  first  paved  walk  on  the  Green  was  the  present  brick 
walk  in  front  of  the  churches,  which  was  laid  in  1840  by 
the  three  religious  societies  jointly  with  the  city.  The 
societies  laid  the  portions  which  were  directly  in  front  of 
their  respective  houses  of  worship  and  the  city  did  the  rest 
of  the  work.  This  walk  has  not  been  repaired  between 
the  churches  since  that  date,  and  its  present  condition  after 
more  than  fifty  years  of  service  speaks  well  for  the  dura- 
bility and  economy  of  brick  sidewalks.  In  1852  a  flag  walk 
was  laid  from  the  south  steps  of  the  State  House  to  the 
brick  walk  in  front  of  the  churches.  These  were  the  only 
paved  walks  on  the  Green  in  1862. 

In  1846  the  wooden  fence  of  1800,  which  had  been  a 
frequent  source  of  expense  for  repairs,  and  had  now  become 
dilapidated,  was  removed  and  the  present  stone  and  iron 
fence  put  up  in  its  place.  The  cost,  which  was  $6,850,  was 
defrayed  by  an  appropriation  from  the  city  treasury.  Aid 
was  requested  from  the  State  as  one  of  the  occupants  of 
the  Green,  but  was  not  extended.  In  f848  occurred  the 
improvement  already  alluded  to,  the  removal  of  the 


DEVELOPMENT   AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  31 

Methodist  Church  from  the  Green.  In  1849  the  Dixwell 
monument  was  erected  in  the  rear  of  the  Center  Church, 
and  in  March,  1850,  it  was  accepted  by  the  city  with  a 
pledge  of  protection. 

In  1855  the  Green  was  first  lighted  by  gas. 

In  1850  the  United  Society,  by  permission  of  the  Pro- 
prietors' Committee,  built  an  addition  of  about  six  feet  on 
the  rear  of  their  church  edifice. 

To  prevent  the  repetition  of  such  permissions  the  State 
Legislature,  in  1856,  passed  a  law  making  them  invalid 
unless  first  ratified  and  approved  by  the  town  at  a  meeting 
specially  called  for  that  purpose.  This  enactment,  followed 
as  it  was  by  provisions  in  subsequent  City  Charters, 
whereby  the  management  of  the  Green  was  vested  in  the 
city  government,  brought  to  a  final  end  all  exercise  of  juris- 
diction over  it  by  the  Proprietors'  Committee. 

In  1862  the  building  now  known  as  the  City  Hall  was 
completed.  It  stands  on  the  site  of  the  County  House  and 
jail  which  had  been  erected  on  Church  street  in  1801. 
With  this  event  and  the  subsequent  removal  to  it  of  the 
courts  and  of  such  public  offices  as  still  lingered  on  the 
Green,  this  review  may  suitably  close.  It  would  hardly 
be  complete,  however,  without  a  reference  to  some  of  the 
fixtures  and  appurtenances  of  the  Green,  which  have  been 
long  identified  with  it,  and  each  of  which  has  a  separate 
history.  These  are  the  stocks  and  the  whipping  post,  the 
sign  post,  the  liberty  pole,  the  bells  and  the  pumps. 

The  Stocks  and  the  Whipping  Post. 

The  stocks  deserve  our  first  attention  because,  as  we  have 
seen,  they  were  among  the  earliest  if  not  the  earliest  append- 
ages of  the  market  place.  They  doubtless  always  stood  in 
front  of  the  guard-house  or  jail,  so  long  as  that  remained 
on  the  Green,  in  the  place  where  they  are  shown  in  Wads- 
worth's  map  of  1748.  Whether  they  followed  their  old 
neighbor  in  its  migration  across  the  street  in  1784,  does 
not  appear.  They  were  a  recognized  institution,  however, 


32  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

until  after  1805,  for  the  revision  of  the  State  laws  of 
that  year  contains  an  enactment  requiring  stocks  to  be  set 
up  in  every  town.  By  the  revision  of  1808  it  appears  that 
drunkards  were  then  set  in  the  stocks,  and  perjury  was 
punished  by  placing  the  offender  in  the  pillory  and  nailing 
his  ears.  The  "Revised  Statutes"  of  1821  make  no  men- 
tion of  pillory  or  stocks,  so  that  both  institutions  had 
become  obsolete  by  that  time,  and  the  picturesque  old 
stocks  were  not  long  in  disappearing  from  the  Greeji. 

As  to  the  whipping  post,  it  was  always  regarded  with 
especial  honor  by  our  forefathers  as  one  of  the  pillars  of 
social  order,  yet  there  is  no  record,  map  or  picture  from 
which  we  can  be  sure  that  it  had  a  separate  existence  and 
location.  The  map  of  1748  shows  the  stocks  with  a  high 
post  at  each  side,  and  as  it  is  well  known  that  the  stocks 
and  whipping  post  were  sometimes  combined,  it  is  possible 
that  that  convenient  and  appropriate  arrangement  origi- 
nally prevailed  in  New  Haven.  I  am  informed  by  persons 
who  recollect  the  latest  whipping  post,  that  it  was  then 
identical  with  the  sign  post,  and  this  also  may  have  been 
an  early  custom.  Confirmation  of  this  latter  idea  is  found 
in  a  vote  of  the  town,  passed  in  1683,  to  establish  "  a  sing 
post"  near  the  meeting-house;  notices  having  been  previ- 
ously posted  on  the  meeting-house  door.  "A  sign  post" 
was  clearly  intended  by  the  vote,  but  it  is  quite  likely  that 
it  was  also  designed  to  do  duty  in  the  other  capacity,  and  a 
compromise  spelling  may  have  been  adopted  to  express  the 
compound  use. 

After  the  State  House  of  1763  was  erected  this  "sing 
post,"  or  sign  post,  was  placed  in  front  of  it  on  the  opposite 
side  of  Temple  street,  and  there  remained  until  removed 
to  its  present  location  near  the  corner  of  Chapel  and 
Church  streets.*  Whipping  ceased  to  be  a  legal  penalty 
in  1825,  and  there  are  several  persons  living  who  remem- 
ber the  last  case  of  its  application  in  New  Haven.  The 

*  When  this  was  written  the  post  stood  on  the  edge  of  the  sidewalk.     It 
has  since  been  moved  inside  the  Green. 


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THE   GREEN   AS   SHOWN   IN   PRESIDENT   STILES'   MAP   OF   NEW   HAVEN   IN    1775. 


DEVELOPMENT    AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  33 

name  of  the  culprit  who  enjoyed  the  high  honor  of  closing 
the  record  is  also  known,  and  although  it  is  now  withheld 
from  considerations  of  delicacy  it  will  be  cheerfully  imparted 
to  any  society  that  may  be  organized,  based  on  this  form 
of  ancestral  distinction. 

It  was  at  the  sign  post  that  contracts  for  the  care  of  the 
town  poor  were  annually  sold  to  the  lowest  bidder — and 
here  also  took  place  many  sheriff's  sales.  It  was  at  the  sign 
post  that  Lois  Tritton,  who  is  still  living,  and  her  mother 
were  sold  as  slaves  in  1825,  the  last  sale  of  a  slave  in  New 
Haven,  if  not  in  Connecticut.  The  original  papers  of  this 
transaction  are  in  the  possession  of  ex-Gov.  Ingersoll  and 
show  that  its  purpose  was  to  give  the  women  their  freedom. 
The  sale  was  by  the  sheriff  under  an  execution  issued  on  a 
former  judgment  against  their  owner;  these  human  goods 
and  chattels  having  been  levied  on  to  satisfy  the  execution. 
The  sheriff's  return  is  dated  March  10,  1825,  and  recites 
that  on  the  8th  of  March,  1825,  by  virtue  of  the  execution, 
he  sold  Lucy  and  Lois  Tritton,  as  the  property  of  the 
defendant,  to  Anthony  P.  Sanford  for  $10.  A  deed  of 
manumission  from  Mr.  Sanford  accompanies  the  docu- 
ments. 

The  Liberty  Pole. 

When  the  first  liberty  pole  was  erected  on  the  Green,  is 
an  interesting  question  which  is,  however,  involved  in 
much  obscurity.  That  it  was  erected  during  or  just  pre- 
ceding the  Revolutionary  period,  seems  probable  from  the 
patriotic  appellation  which  is  traditionally  identified  with 
it.  Prior  to  1775  Sons  of  Liberty  were  erecting  liberty 
poles  and  planting  liberty  trees  throughout  New  England. 
The  Connecticut  Journal  of  September  I,  1774,  mentions 
one  just  set  up  in  Wallingford,  but  after  much  search  I 
can  find  no  reference  in  any  contemporary  newspaper 
to  such  action  in  New  Haven.  John  Adams,  in  his  diary 
under  date  of  August,  1774,  tells  of  passing  through  New 
Haven  on  his  way  to  attend  the  first  meeting  of  the  Con- 

3 


34  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

tinental  Congress.  He  says  he  was  received  with  great 
parade,  firing  of  cannon  and  ringing  of  bells.  His  com- 
placency over  the  supposed  personal  compliment  was  some- 
what dampened  by  the  explanation  by  his  landlord,  Mr. 
Beers,  who  told  him  that  it  had  been  suddenly  got  up  "in 
order  to  divert  the  populace  from  erecting  a  liberty  pole." 
It  would  appear,  however,  that  the  populace  were  not  long 
diverted,  for  a  letter  written  October  24,  1774,  by  Hon. 
Jared  Ingersoll,  then  in  Philadelphia,  to  his  brother  in 
New  Haven,  contained  this  inquiry:  "Pray  tell  me  where- 
abouts on  the  Green  the  liberty  pole  stands."  The  records 
of  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society  of  West  Haven  under 
date  of  November  23,  1774,  refer  to  "the  extraordinary 
doings  the  last  week  of  the  liberty  pole  men  of  New  Haven." 
I  am  informed  also  that  an  aged  former  resident  of  this 
city,  C.  S.  Davis,  remembers  having  heard  his  grandmother 
speak  of  going  in  pre-revolutionary  days  to  the  liberty 
pole  on  the  Green  and  "smashing  her  crockery  against  it." 
The  crockery  thus  recklessly  sacrificed  on  the  symbol  of 
freedom  was  probably  her  tea  pot,  and  the  time  would  be 
about  1774  or  1775.  It  would  appear  from  these  facts 
that  a  liberty  pole  stood  on  the  Green  during  1775,  but 
how  long  it  remained  there  I  am  not  able  to  say.  It  would 
hardly  have  survived  the  British  invasion  of  1779,  when 
the  enemy  occupied  the  ground  around  it  for  many  hours. 
President  Stiles,  in  his  diary,  gives  an  elaborate  account  of 
the  rejoicing  at  the  advent  of  peace  in  1783,  and  describes 
an  elegant  silk  national  flag,  prepared  by  the  ladies,  which 
he  says  was  displayed  at  sunrise  with  a  salute  of  thirteen 
cannons  and  "appeared  well";  from  which  it  might  be 
inferred  that  there  was  a  flagstaff  to  display  it  on.  There 
is  no  mention  of  the  flag  nor  the  flagstaff  afterwards,  how- 
ever, and  although  the  anniversary  of  Independence  was 
celebrated  quite  regularly  (though  not  every  year)  from 
1780  to  1825,  there  is  nowhere  any  reference  to  a  liberty 
pole  and  flag  as  a  feature  on  such  occasions.  There  are 
also  many  pictures  and  maps  of  the  Green  during  this 


DEVELOPMENT   AS   A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  35 

period,  and  in  none  of  them  is  there  shown  any  flagstaff 
upon  it.  Nevertheless  it  is  probable  that  one  existed  most 
of  the  time,  for  the  records  of  the  Governor's  Foot  Guard, 
under  date  of  April  14,  1814,  contains  an  order  for  the 
company,  in  case  of  an  alarm  from  the  enemy,  then  in  the 
Sound,  to  assemble  "at  the  flagstaff  on  the  lower  Green." 
The  city  came  into  existence  in  1784,  and  nothing 
appears  in  its  records  indicating  any  municipal  charge  or 
connection  with  Fourth  of  July  celebrations  until  June  7, 
1825.  On  that  day  the  annual  city  meeting  appropriated 
$100  for  celebrating  "the  next  anniversary  of  our  national 
independence  by  salutes  and  the  ringing  of  the  bells  of  the 
city  churches."  It  also  passed  the  following  vote: 
"Resolved,  That  the  city  will  assume  the  expense  of  the 
maintenance  of  the  flagstaff  on  the  public  square,  and  of 
the  flag  to  be  placed  thereon."  Probably  up  to  this  time 
the  flagstaff  had  been  a  town  institution,  and  it  is  certain 
that  the  city  had  not  previously  owned  a  flag.  The  Daily 
Herald  newspaper,  referring  to  the  vote  just  mentioned, 
says:  "It  will  surprise  our  neighbor  cities  to  learn  that  this 
city  of  10,000  inhabitants  has  never  owned  a  national 
flag."  In  the  following  year  (1826)  the  annual  city  meet- 
ing voted  as  follows:  "Resolved,  That  on  each  anniversary 
of  national  Independence,  the  flag  shall  be  displayed  and 
the  national  salute  fired  between  sunrise  and  sunset  under 
the  direction  of  the  Mayor."  One  hundred  dollars  was 
then  appropriated  for  the  succeeding  Fourth  of  July  and 
ever  since  that  date  a  similar  appropriation  has  been 
annually  made,  with  perhaps  one  or  two  exceptions. 

Bells  on  the  Green. 

The  important  functions  which  have  been  performed  by 
bells  on  the  Green  for  over  two  hundred  years  in  summon- 
ing to  religious,  civil,  and  political  gatherings,  in  voicing 
public  sentiment  whether  of  joy  or  grief,  as  the  heralds  of 
alarm  when  danger  was  pending,  and  in  maintaining  a  uni- 
form time  for  the  community  when  clocks  and  watches 
were  few,  entitle  them  to  a  prominent  notice  in  this  review. 


36  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

The  first  bell  on  the  Green  was  purchased  from  the 
skipper  of  a  vessel  in  the  harbor  and  was  kept  for  several 
months  on  trial.  In  1685  it  was  ordered  sent  to  England 
"to  be  made  bigger."  A  substitute  seems  to  have  been 
brought  from  Boston  and  used  for  a  while.  In  May,  1688, 
"it  was  left  with  ye  townsmen  to  take  care  about  ye  bell 
to  procure  one  suitable  for  ye  place  and  to  sell  ye  Old  bell, 
small  guns  or  muskets  belonging  to  ye  town  toward  ye 
payment  for  a  good  bell."  As  nothing  further  appears 
about  the  bell  in  the  records,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that 
the  one  thus  purchased  proved  satisfactory.  This  bell  was 
still  in  use  in  1763,  as  the  only  public  bell  of  the  town, 
and  was  then  owned  jointly  by  the  two  Congregational 
societies.  In  that  year  the  First  Society  having  bought  a 
new  bell,  proposals  were  made  to  purchase  the  old  bell  for 
use  in  the  State  House.  The  society  voted  to  sell  its  half 
of  the  bell  and  also  agreed  if  the  White  Haven  Society 
would  sell  the  other  half  "the  said  White  Haven  Society 
shall  have,  as  usual,  the  benefit  and  advantage  of  this 
society's  present  bell  at  funerals,  etc.,  and  of  this  society's 
expense  in  ringing  the  same  on  Lord's  day,  evenings,  etc." 
Two  years  later,  that  is  to  say,  on  November  I,  1765,  the 
day  the  stamp  act  went  into  operation,  this  old  bell,  then 
hanging  in  the  turret  of  the  State  House,  joined  with  the 
new  one  in  the  brick  meeting-house  and  the  college  bell 
in  a  mournful  chorus,  which  is  described  in  the  Connecticut 
Gazette  of  that  date  as  follows:  "This  morning  three  bells 
in  this  town,  which  are  neighbors,  began  to  toll  here  and 
still  continue  tolling  and  saluting  each  other  at  suitable 
intervals.  They  seem  to  speak  the  word  No — vem — ber 
in  the  most  melancholy  tone  imaginable." 

Six  months  later,  however,  on  Monday,  May  19,  1766, 
the  same  bells  rang  out  a  joyful  jubilee  over  the  repeal  of 
the  obnoxious  enactment,  and  the  Green  resounded  all 
day  with  the  noise  of  small  arms  and  cannon  and  was  alive 
all  night  with  bonfires  and  dances.  The  old  bell  of  1688 
continued  to  summon  the  courts  and  all  public  meetings 


DEVELOPMENT  AS  A  PUBLIC  SQUARE.         37 

which  were  held  in  the  Court  House  until  that  building 
was  taken  down  in  1828.  It  was  then  stored  for  awhile 
under  the  steps  of  the  new  edifice,  and  was  captured  there 
one  night  by  some  roystering  students,  who  carried  it  to 
the  tower  of  the  Lyceum  building  on  the  campus,  and 
dropped  it  thence  upon  the  stone  step  below,  to  its  irretriev- 
able ruin. 

An  important  service  of  the  bell  which  hung  in  the  old 
meeting-house  and  its  lineal  successors  was  to  ring  the 
curfew  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening.  This  nine  o'clock 
bell  was  commenced  as  soon  as  the  bell  was  purchased  in 
1682,  but  appears  to  have  been  discontinued  before  1750, 
as  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society  voted  in  that  year  "to 
cause  the  meeting-house  bell  to  be  rung  constantly  at  nine 
o'clock."  By  1825  the  society  had  tired  of  the  burden  and 
in  December  of  that  year  the  town  voted  "to  assume  the 
expense  of  causing  a  bell  to  be  rung  in  the  morning,  at 
noon  and  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  selectmen." 

Mr.  Barber  states  in  his  "Antiquities  of  New  Haven" 
that  "for  several  years  the  White  Haven  Church  bell  rang 
at  6  A.  M.  in  the  summer  and  at  7  A.  M.  in  the  winter. 
Trinity  bell  rang  at  noon  and  Center  Church  bell  at  9 
p.  M."  By  "Center  Church"  he  probably  means  the  Old 
Brick  meeting-house,  and  the  period  he  refers  to  must 
have  been  between  1793,  when  the  first  bell  was  put  into 
Trinity  (then  on  Church  street,  south  of  Chapel),  and  1814, 
when  the  White  Haven  meeting-house  was  taken  down. 
It  appears  from  the  records  of  Trinity  Parish  that  in  1793 
the  over-zealous  sexton  of  Trinity  commenced  ringing  a 
nine  o'clock  curfew  with  his  new  bell  on  Saturday  nights  in 
order  to  supply  its  customary  omission  on  that  evening  as 
a  part  of  the  Puritan  Sabbath.  After  the  second  ringing 
his  performances  were  stopped  by  vote  of  the  Vestry. 

There  were  no  railroad  trains  to  catch  in  those  days  and 
uniformity  in  time  throughout  the  community  was  more 
important  than  absolute  exactness,  so  that  the  nine  o'clock 


38  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN   GREEN. 

bell  was  universally  availed  of  to  set  the  family  clocks  by. 
The  bell  ringer's  office  was  therefore  regarded  as  a  responsi- 
ble one  and  its  incumbent  took  pride  in  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  his  duties;  so  much  so  that  having  on  one 
occasion  erroneously  rung  the  bell  at  ten  o'clock  he  was 
careful  on  the  next  evening  to  ring  it  at  eight,  in  order 
to  have  the  time  correct  on  the  average.  At  some  time 
between  1830  and  1840,  on  account  of  the  liability  to  mis- 
take the  curfew  for  a  fire  alarm,  the  custom  was  discon- 
tinued. Funeral  bells  were  tolled  as  lately  as  1832.  Two 
years  prior  to  that  time,  the  Medical  Society  had  presented 
a  petition  to  the  Common  Council  praying  for  their  dis- 
continuance, but  it  seems  to  have  been  overlooked  or  dis- 
regarded, for  in  1832  that  body  appointed  the  bell  ringers 
as  usual  and  fixed  their  compensation  at  fifty  cents  a 
funeral.  The  usage  was,  however,  declining  and  ceased 
shortly  afterwards. 

Closely  connected  with  the  subject  of  bells  is  that  of  the 
town  clock,  which  formerly  occupied  the  tower  of  the  Cen- 
ter Church.  It  appears  to  have  been  placed  there  on  trial 
by  its  maker,  Eli  Terry  of  Plymouth,  prior  to  1826,  and 
in  that  year  the  city  voted  to  buy  it  for  $250.  While  in 
the  Center  Church  it  developed  some  eccentricities,  such 
as  striking  continuously  for  hours  together  and  then,  as  if 
exhausted  by  such  excesses,  going  on  a  long  strike  of  a 
less  active  nature.  On  May,  1855,  it  grew  so  tired  of  hold- 
ing up  its  weights  that  it  dropped  one  or  more  of  them 
through  two  floors  into  the  church  organ.  After  the  City 
Hall  was  built  in  1861  it  was  transferred  to  that  building, 
but  its  conduct  there  was  not  entirely  exemplary  and  after 
numerous  efforts  for  its  reform  it  was  removed  to  its  pres- 
ent quarters  over  the  High  School,  where  it  seems  to  have 
somewhat  improved  in  its  deportment.* 

*  See  Note  8. 


DEVELOPMENT   AS    A    PUBLIC    SQUARE.  39 

The  City  Wells  on  the  Green. 

It  remains  only  to  speak  of  the  public  wells  and  pumps 
which  have  been  at  different  times  established  on  the 
Green.  These  wells  have  been  four  in  number  and  of  them 
only  one  survives,  the  one  on  the  corner  of  Chapel  and 
Church  streets.  It  was  dug  in  1813  and  the  present  pump 
and  canopy  were  placed  over  it  in  1878.  The  oldest  pub- 
lic well  was  located  near  College  street,  near  the  site  of  the 
ancient  jail,  and  was  probably  originally  connected  with 
that  institution.  It  is  still  remembered  by  many  of  our 
citizens.  The  water  was  not  considered  good  or  whole- 
some, and  the  well  was  closed  between  1840  and  1850. 

After  the  city  was  organized,  protection  from  fire  was 
one  of  its  most  urgent  necessities,  and  numerous  public 
wells  were  opened  in  various  localities.  In  1797  a  well 
and  pump  were  established  on  the  lower  Green  at  the 
corner  of  Chapel  and  Temple  streets.  In  1819  another 
well  and  pump  were  placed  on  the  corner  of  Elm  and  Tem- 
ple streets.  Both  these  wells  were  generally  dry  and  the 
pumps  constantly  out  of  order.  The  care  and  expense  of 
the  public  wells  gave  great  trouble  to  the  Common  Council, 
and  were  the  subject  of  numberless  votes  in  that  body. 
But  the  introduction  of  water  from  Lake  Whitney,  January 
i,  1862,  brought  such  matters  to  a  happy  close,  and 
brought  also  a  new  era  in  the  health,  comfort,  safety  and 
progress  of  the  city. 

This  important  event,  the  introduction  of  water,  marks 
almost  as  distinct  an  era  in  the  history  of  New  Haven  as 
the  completion  of  the  City  Hall  during  the  same  year  did 
in  the  history  of  the  Green.  Since  that  period  it  has  been 
passing  from  the  character  of  the  rural  New  England  town 
to  that  of  a  large  and  cosmopolitan  city.  Where  isolated 
dwellings  stood  thirty  years  ago,  long  rows  of  compact 
blocks  now  line  the  streets.  Foreign  faces  and  foreign 
costumes  swarm  along  the  sidewalks.  Cobwebs  of  electric 
wires  darken  the  sky,  and  electric  cars  fly  to  and  fro 
through  the  formerly  quiet  thoroughfares.  But  amid  all 


40  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

the  changes  in  its  surroundings,  the  ancient  Green  as  it  rests 
tranquilly  under  its  venerable  trees,  watched  over  by  the 
prim  and  old-fashioned  churches,  those  relics  of  a  by-gone 
time  when  religion  was  a  public  institution,  seems  sleeping 
in  the  shadows  of  the  past,  and  dreaming  of  old  or  shall  we 
rather  say  young  New  Haven.  As  the  city  grows  more 
dense  and  thronged  around  it,  its  use  as  a  convenient  spot 
for  public  buildings  can  no  longer  be  thought  of,  but  its 
priceless  value  as  a  breathing  and  resting  and  gathering 
place  for  the  people  becomes  constantly  more  conspicuous. 
May  it  be  guarded  from  enroachment  in  the  future  more 
jealously  than  in  the  past;  and  may  our  successors  in  its 
care  of  every  race  and  lineage  protect  its  soil,  and  cherish 
its  traditions  with  that  affectionate  veneration  which  is  the 
heritage  and  the  test  of  every  true  son  and  daughter  of  New 
Haven! 


1 


F 

D- 


^i  tit 
lYr  ?I* 

t  T  r  i  i  ;s 
?  T  5  t  ?, 
T  ?  t  T  t;t 
T  A  T  t  J  !  i 

I  T 


€i 


1*15    f  ?  t  r  i ;  «j 

ftlfftTftl, 

*  t  i  ?   7    f  1  ft; 


*ii^ 


THE   GREEN    AS    SHOWN    IN    DOOLITTLE'S    MAP    OF    NEW    HAVEN    IN    l8iy. 


NOTES  TO  PAPER  No.  I. 

NOTE  i  (page  13). 

The  Proprietors'  Committee  is  still  in  existence  and  since  1810  has 
made  several  grants  of  land,  generally  for  the  purpose  of  clearing 
titles  otherwise  doubtful.  Its  latest  action  was  on  February  4th,  1896, 
when  it  granted  to  the  Town  of  New  Haven  the  last  remaining  tract 
of  Proprietary  land,  comprising  the  southern  face  and  slope  of  West 
Rock,  for  the  purposes  of  a  Public  Park.  Thus  the  work  of  the 
Proprietors  ends  as  it  began,  with  devoting  a  plot  of  ground  to  the 
park  system  of  New  Haven. 

•       NOTE  2  (page  13). 

See  opinion  of  Corporation  Counsel  Ely  on  this  point  rendered  to 
the  Common  Council  in  September,  1896,  in  accordance  with  the  view 
here  presented. 

NOTE  3  (page  21). 

The  first  elm  tree  planting  of  which  we  have  any  information  was 
in  1686  in  front  of  the  dwelling  house  of  Rev.  James  Pierpont,  which 
stood  about  where  Temple  street  enters  Elm.  Two  trees  were  set 
out  there  by  William  Cooper  as  a  gift  to  Mr.  Pierpont  and  one  of  them 
was  still  standing,  almost  in  the  middle  of  Elm  street,  in  front  of  the 
Bristol  residence  until  cut  down  in  1840.  The  large  elm  on  the  corner 
of  Church  and  Chapel  streets  known  as  "The  Franklin  Elm,"  because 
set  out  on  the  day  that  Franklin  died  (April  17,  1790),  was  planted 
by  "Jerry  Allen"  at  request  of  Thaddeus  Beecher,  who  kept  a  tavern 
where  the  Exchange  building  stands. 

NOTE  4  (page  22). 

Dr.  Bacon  says  that  a  crown  surmounted  the  cupola  of  the  State 
House  until  1807.  On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Barber  says  there  was 
no  cupola  until  "early  in  this  century."  Mr.  Barber  is  certainly  incor- 
rect and  Dr.  Bacon  possibly  so  as  respects  the  continuance  of  the 
royal  symbol  so  long  after  the  Revolution. 

NOTE  5  (page  25). 

This  is  the  statement  made  by  Judge  Simeon  Baldwin  in  a  city 
meeting  held  September  26,  1843,  to  consider  the  disposition  of  the 
old  market  house  in  Chapel  street.  Mr.  Barber  says  the  building  was 
removed  to  George  street  at  about  the  time  when  the  Green  fence  was 
erected.  As  the  Market  House  on  George  street  is  shown  on  Stiles' 
map  of  1775,  Judge  Baldwin's  statement  is  the  most  likely  to  be  correct. 

NOTE  6  (page  26). 

This  fence  enclosed  both  sections  of  the  Green  separately,  as  is 
plainly  shown  in  a  painting  of  the  Green  made  soon  after  its  erection. 
It  would  appear  however,  that  when  the  three  present  churches  were 


42  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

built  in  1814,  the  fence  on  the  west  side  of  Temple  street  must  have 
been  taken  down. 

In  September,  1821,  the  Common  Council  appropriated  $40  "to  make 
a  suitable  fence  on  the  east  side  of  the  west  section  of  the  Public 
Square  with  a  raised  walk  inside  the  fence  provided  the  United  Society 
and  the  Episcopal  Society  consent  to  apply  the  railing  around  their 
several  buildings  with  a  view  to  effect  the  same;  and  the  First  Society 
provide  posts  equal  in  value  to  the  post  and  railing  to  be  used  in 
front  of  their  meeting-house;  on  these  conditions  the  fence  to  be  put 
up  in  October,  1821."  From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  North 
Church  and  Trinity  were  both  surrounded  by  fences  until  1821. 

NOTE  7  (page  26). 

The  Rev.  David  Austin  is  said  to  have  planted  the  inner  rows  of 
elms  on  the  east  and  west  sides  of  the  lower  Green.  He  also  cooper- 
ated with  Hillhouse  in  other  city  improvements  to  the  detriment,  it 
would  appear,  of  his  own  financial  condition.  In  1803  a  -'city  meeting 
appointed  "a  committee  to  examine  and  adjust  the  account  of  Mr. 
David  Austin  as  expended  in  railing  and  ornamenting  the  Green  and 
make  report  whether  anything,  and  if  so  what  sum,  is  legally  or 
equitably  due  to  him  from  the  city  on  account  of  moneys  so  expended." 
No  report  from  this  committee  appears  in  the  records.  Mr.  Austin 
afterwards  removed  to  Texas  and  founded  the  City  of  Austin  in  that 
State. 

NOTE  8  (page  38). 

Mr.  Eli  Terry,  the  maker  of  the  Center  Church  clock,  was  a  pioneer 
in  clock  manufacturing  in  this  country  and  a  man  of  genius.  His  son, 
Mr.  John  Terry,  furnishes  the  following  information  respecting  this 
clock,  which  contained  several  novel  features.  The  train  or  time- 
keeping works  was  placed  in  the  lower  part  of  the  tower  far  below 
the  dials  in  order  to  avoid  vibration  and  also  the  effect  of  wind  and 
snow  upon  the  hands.  The  hands  were  moved  by  a  separate  weight 
which  was  released  by  means  of  a  detent  every  two  and  a  half  minutes, 
the  hands  remaining  stationary  during  the  interval,  then  jumping  the 
necessary  space.  When  the  clock  was  first  placed  in  the  tower  two  of 
its  dials  showed  mean  solar  time  and  two  of  them  apparent  solar  time, 
but  this  arrangement  causing  confusion,  he  caused  the  clock  to  run 
on  mean  time  only.  The  College  clock,  however,  was  run  on  apparent 
time  and  thus  there  was  a  continuous  difference  between  the  two 
clocks,  sometimes  amounting  to  several  minutes.  The  consequence 
was  great  public  inconvenience  and  private  exasperation,  and  a  spirited 
controversy  in  the  newspapers  between  the  advocates  of  the  two  differ- 
ent systems.  In  the  end  the  College  authorities  yielded  and  caused 
their  clock  to  conform  to  mean  solar  time,  to  the  great  relief  of  the 
entire  community.  Mr.  Terry  also  states  that  in  1811,  on  a  signal  from 
the  Observatory  of  the  College,  a  heavy  gun  was  fired  at  noon  for 
several  months  in  order  to  give  the  people  the  exact  time  to  make 
their  noon  marks. 


II. 

THE  GREEN  AS  A  POLITICAL  AND  Civic  FORUM. 

Since  the  Green  was  first  set  apart  in  1638  as  a  market 
place,  it  has  been  under  the  jurisdiction  of  nine  distinct 
governments.  First,  the  temporary  or  provisional  govern- 
ment agreed  upon  by  the  settlers  soon  after  their  landing 
and  which  they  called  "The  Plantation  Covenant,"  lasting 
till  October  25,  1639.  Second,  that  created  for  the  town 
by  the  so-called  "Fundamental!  agreement" — and  after- 
wards extended  over  the  Colony  of  New  Haven,  under 
which  the  church  wielded  all  political  power.  Third,  after 
1665,  the  government  established  by  the  Connecticut 
charter,  democratic  in  its  principles,  which  continued  until 
1818  and  was  then  succeeded  (fourth)  by  that  which  still 
exists  under  the  present  Connecticut  Constitution.  In 
1781  the  fifth  in  our  enumeration  was  set  in  operation — a 
city  government,  more  or  less  modified  since  by  occasional 
amendments. 

Co-existing  with  all  these  and  above  them  all  have  been 
the  imperial  and  national  governments  successively,  which 
have  been  four  in  number.  The  royal  government  of  Great 
Britain  under  Charles  I.  and  his  monarchical  successors, 
being  the  sixth  in  our  list,  interrupted  for  a  time  by  the 
English  Commonwealth,  which  is  seventh;  eighth,  the 
United  States  government  under  the  Confederation,  and 
ninth,  since  1788,  the  present  national  government  under 
the  Federal  Constitution.  Under  all  these  different  alle- 
giances and  arising  out  of  them  all,  the  Green  has  been 
at  successive  periods  the  arena  of  public  demonstrations, 
actions,  or  incidents  of  a  political  character,  the  most 
important  of  which,  occurring  between  1638  and  1862,  it 
will  be  the  province  of  this  paper  to  review  in  order. 


44  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

Of  the  first  provisional  government,  its  officers  and  its 
doings,  no  records  appear  to  have  been  kept.  So  far  as 
respects  the  market  place,  we  only  know  that  it  set  up 
the  stocks  and  the  whipping  post  there,  pursuant  to  the 
covenant  "to  be  ordered  by  those  rules  which  the  Scripture 
holds  forth."  It  continued  for  a  year  and  six  months, 
when  it  was  superseded  by  the  civil  order,  whose  founda- 
tions had  been  laid  in  Mr.  Newman's  barn  June  6,  1639, 
but  which  was  not  actually  set  in  operation  till  October  25 
of  the  same  year. 

The  First  Organized  Government. 

The  basis  of  this  system  was  a  social  compact  pure  and 
simple,  called  "the  Fundamentall  agreement,"  which  every 
planter  and  new-comer  was  required  to  sign.  Under  this 
agreement  the  state  did  not  come  into  existence  until  after 
the  organization  of  a  church.  Seven  men,  now  generally 
referred  to  as  the  "seven  pillars,"  were  first  selected  to  form 
this  church,  and  to  admit  into  it  such  persons  as  they  con- 
sidered worthy  of  membership.  The  church  thus  created 
proceeded  to  organize  the  state,  none  but  its  own  members 
being  allowed  to  be  electors,  or  qualified  to  hold  office. 
All  existing  offices  held  under  the  Plantation  Covenant 
were  formally  abolished  by  the  new  body  politic,  and  magis- 
trates for  the  town  were  immediately  elected.  It  was 
further  agreed  that  all  officers  should  be  elected  yearly  in 
October  and  that  "the  Word  of  God  shall  be  the  only  rule 
to  be  attended  to  in  ordering  the  affayres  of  government  in 
this  Plantation." 

The  first  official  act  of  the  new  government  was  an  exer- 
cise of  the  highest  power  of  civil  society,  that  over  human 
life.  An  Indian  named  Nepaupuck  had  been  arrested 
several  days  previously  charged  with  murder,  and  had  been 
waiting  more  or  less  patiently  in  the  stocks  until  a  state 
could  be  organized  to  punish  him  for  a  crime  committed 
against  itself,  some  months  before  its  own  existence.  This 


AS    A    POLITICAL    AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  45 

little  preliminary  having  been  arranged,  he  had  no  reason 
to  complain  of  further  inattention.  Three  days  later  he 
had  been  tried  and  convicted  and  his  head  was  adorning 
the  market  place  as  an  object  lesson  to  encourage  his 
aboriginal  brethren  in  the  ways  of  peace  and  pleasantness. 
It  is  possible  that  the  execution  also  took  place  on  the 
Green,  though  the  record  does  not  so  state.  If  so,  it  was 
an  exception  to  the  general  rule,  as  all  subsequent  execu- 
tions (at  least  by  hanging)  appear  to  have  been  had  in  the 
outskirts  of  the  town.  Only  one  other  case  of  decapitation 
in  New  Haven  is  recorded,  and  that  was  applied  to  another 
Indian  for  murder  in  1646. 

The  government  and  the  courts  having  been  thus 
inaugurated  and  found  to  work  to  everybody's  satisfaction, 
the  next  step  was  to  erect  a  meeting-house;  meaning  there- 
by, a  place  for  all  public  gatherings.  This  rude  structure 
occupied  the  center  of  the  market  place  until  succeeded  by 
a  larger  and  firmer  one  in  1670.  In  it  and  in  its  successor 
till  1719  were  held  not  merely  religious  services  but  all  town 
meetings  and  other  meetings  of  a  public  nature  which 
required  a  room  of  some  dimensions. 

Once  a  month  or  oftener,  if  occasion  required,  the  gen- 
eral town  meeting  for  local  business,  or  as  it  was  called, 
"the  generall  court,"  was  held  there.  At  these  meetings 
not  only  the  electors  or  "free  burgesses"  could  vote  but 
also  "free  planters,"  i.  e.,  owners  of  land  and  property  who 
were  not  church  members,  and  therefore  not  electors. 
Attendance  upon  them  was  compulsory  for  both  classes  on 
penalty  of  fine  for  absence  without  excuse.  The  annual 
and  other  elections  for  magistrates  were  also  held  in  the 
meeting-house,  but  at  these  only  the  free  burgesses  were 
required  to  be  present. 

It  is  a  curious  circumstance  that  the  present  name  of  the 
town  was  not  adopted  nor  apparently  ever  thought  of  until 
more  than  two  years  after  its  settlement.  Up  to  that  time 
the  plantation  had  been  stigmatized  by  a  barbarous  com- 
bination of  linguals,  palatals  and  gutterals  spelled  in  at  least 


46  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

thirty  different  ways,*  each  more  unpronounceable  than 
the  rest,  which  in  the  course  of  two  centuries  has  been 
civilized  into  "Quinnipiac."  The  community  tired  its  jaws 
and  rasped  its  vocal  organs  over  these  conflicting  aboriginal 
cognomens  until  September  i,  1640,  when  a  town  meeting, 
in  evident  desperation,  cut  the  gordian  knot  by  curtly  vot- 
ing, "This  town  now  called  New  Haven."  None  of  the 
early  settlers,  so  far  as  known,  came  from  New  Haven  in 
England  and  the  reason  for  selecting  this  name  is  unex- 
plained. A  contemporary  document  informs  us  that  "Lon- 
don" was  talked  of  and  was  rejected  "only  least  it  should 
seem  too  high."  This  cautious  self-restraint  suggests  that 
possibly  "New  Heaven"  may  have  been  under  consideration 
and  that  it  was  modified  into  "New  Haven"  from  motives 
of  modest  forbearance.  It  is  certain  that  the  pious  founders 
of  our  city  fully  believed  that  it  was  destined  to  be  an 
earthly  Zion.  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Davenport  was  a  Second 
Adventist,  who  looked  for  the  personal  reign  of  Christ  on 
earth,  in  which  case  what  place  more  likely  than  this  saintly 
locality  to  be  chosen  for  his  capital?  It  must  be  confessed, 
however,  that  as  things  have  turned  out  "New  Heaven" 
would  have  seemed  a  trifle  "too  high"  and  that  a  near 
approach  to  it  like  that  which  was  adopted  is  more  exactly 
appropriate. 

By  1651  the  frequent  town  meetings  with  compulsory 
attendance  had  become  burdensome,  and  in  September  of 
that  year  it  was  voted  to  entrust  the  ordinary  affairs  of  the 
town  to  the  supervision  of  nine  persons,  then  called 
"townsmen,"  but  more  lately  "selectmen,"  who  were 
required  to  regulate  their  action  by  the  advice  and  approval 
of  the  town  meetings.  The  townsmen,  however,  soon 
acquired  the  habit  of  conducting  all  the  town  business, 
including  its  finances,  on  their  own  responsibility,  and 
ultimately  absorbed  its  entire  management.  Their  thirst 
for  power  was  perhaps  stimulated  by  the  fact  that  they 
originally  held  their  meetings  at  the  ordinary  or  tavern, 

*  See  Note  i  at  the  end  of  this  Paper. 


AS    A    POLITICAL    AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  47 

and  under  these  circumstances  it  is  not  surprising  to  learn 
that  in  1675  they  were  complained  of  in  town  meeting  for 
immoderate  indulgence  in  liquors  at  the  expense  of  the 
town.  With  virtuous  indignation,  the  Selectmen  defiantly 
replied  that  during  the  past  year  they  had  spent  30  shillings 
of  the  town's  money  in  liquor;  that  they  intended  to  spend 
as  much  more  in  the  next,  and  that  if  the  town  would  not 
pay  the  score  they  would  pay  it  themselves.  This  appalling 
threat  completely  paralyzed  the  meeting.  The  incipient 
law  and  order  investigation  was  promptly  suppressed,  and 
the  old  board  was  triumphantly  re-elected.  A  precedent 
having  been  thus  established,  doubtless  all  succeeding 
boards  of  selectmen  have  spent  at  least  thirty  shillings  of 
the  town's  money  annually  in  festive  libation,  though  the 
fact  has  not  been  of  later  years  so  easily  discoverable  in 
their  accounts. 

Having  now  seen  the  town  government  fully  developed 
into  working  order,  let  us  briefly  review  some  of  the  princi- 
pal transactions  and  events  of  a  civil  and  political  nature 
which  have  occurred  on  the  market  place,  beginning  with 
the  period  of  New  Haven's  independency  from  1639  to 
1665.  ^ 

The  First  Civil  and  Criminal  Code. 

The  provisional  government  terminated,  as  we  have  seen, 
October  25,  1639.  In  1643  New  Haven  joined  the  Con- 
federacy of  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England,  consist- 
ing of  Massachusetts,  Plymouth,  Connecticut  and  New 
Haven,  the  object  being  mutual  support  against  the  Indians 
and  the  Dutch.  The  Confederacy  lasted  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  during  which  time  its  delegates  met  annually, 
and  at  the  different  colonies  successively.  These  meetings, 
when  in  New  Haven,  were  in  the  meeting-house,  the  first 
one  being  in  1646,  when  among  other  business  Uncas  the 
Indian  Sachem  was  questioned  by  the  convention  with 
regard  to  some  of  his  misdoings.  When  New  Haven 


48  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

Colony  joined  the  Confederacy  it  consisted  of  New  Haven, 
Stamford  and  Southold,  on  Long  Island,  but  was  immedi- 
ately afterwards  enlarged  by  the  accession  of  Milford  and 
Guilford,  which  up  to  that  time  had  been  independent 
plantations,  and  which  were  not  admitted  until  after  they 
had  adopted  the  Fundamental  agreement,  whereby  church 
members  only  were  allowed  to  vote  or  hold  office.  In 
1644  the  General  Court  of  the  Colony  assembled  in  New 
Haven  Meeting-house,  voted  that  the  "judicial  laws  of  God 
as  they  were  delivered  to  Moses  and  expounded  in  other 
parts  of  Scripture,  so  far  as  they  were  not  typical  or  cere- 
monial nor  had  exclusive  reference  to  Canaan,  should  be 
the  civil  and  criminal  code  of  the  Colony,  till  the  same 
be  branched  out  into  particulars  hereafter." 

This  adoption  of  the  laws  of  Moses  as  the  civil  and  crimi- 
nal code  of  the  Colony  has  been  sometimes  referred  to  as 
if  it  were  peculiar  to  New  Haven  Colony,  but  such  is  not 
the  case.  Massachusetts  Bay  also  followed  Mosaic  law, 
not  only  with  regard  to  crimes  and  punishments  but  in 
other  matters  also,  as  in  the  rules  of  inheritance.  Dr. 
Bacon  has  suggested  that  the  laws  of  Moses  were  preferred 
to  those  of  England  at  that  period  as  being  more  demo- 
cratic and  humane.  Another  reason  probably  was  that 
there  was  but  one  treatise  on  the  English  law  then  in 
existence,  and  the  book  was  scarce,  costly  and  probably 
unobtainable  on  this  side  the  ocean.  The  laws  of  Moses, 
on  the  other  hand,  as  expounded  in  Scripture,  were  familiar 
to  everybody  and  in  everybody's  possession.  The  code 
thus  established  proved  exceedingly  elastic  and  convenient, 
especially  as  interpreted  and  applied  by  Gov.  Eaton,  who 
was  judge,  jury  and  prosecuting  officer  all  combined,  in  his 
little  court  room  on  the  market  place.  Under  it  cognizance 
was  taken,  not  merely  of  misdemeanors  and  offenses  against 
morality,  but  of  every  neighborhood  scandal  or  gossip, 
disrespectful  criticisms  of  the  magistrates,  or  of  Mr.  Daven- 
port's sermons,  all  of  which  were  clearly  shown,  by  citation 
of  chapter  and  verse,  to  be  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  as 


AS   A   POLITICAL   AND    CIVIC   FORUM.  49 

delivered  to  Moses  and  expounded  in  other  parts  of  Scrip- 
ture.    Nevertheless,  it  soon  began  to  appear  that  a  branch- 
ing out  into  particulars  was  necessary,   and  by    1655   a 
published  code  of  the  Colony  laws  was  called  for.     This  was 
prepared  by  Gov.  Eaton  and  adopted  in  1656,  and  every 
provision  was  fortified  by  marginal  reference  to  Scripture 
authority.     Thus  the  statute  requiring  beer  casks  to  be  of 
London  standard  is  supported  by  Deut.  xxv,  15,  and  Micah 
vi,  10,  and  the  law  that  every  militiaman  shall  have  a  good 
and  serviceable  gun  with  shot  bag,  powder  and  bullets,  is 
shown  to  be  derived  from  Judges  v,  8,  I  Sam.  xiii,  19,  22, 
and  Luke  xxii,  36.     In  this  code  heretics,  who  had  already 
begun  to  trouble  Israel,  were  not  forgotten.     The  ordi- 
nance against  them  expressly  disclaims  any  right  to  control 
conscientious  belief,  and  merely  forbids  the  "going  about 
to  subvert  or  destroy  the  Christian  faith  and  religion"  by 
the  inculcation  "of  any  dangerous  errors  or  heresy,  with  a 
view  to  seduce  others  thereunto."     Two  years  later,  in 
1658,  some  months  after  Gov.  Eaton's  death,  Humphrey 
Norton,  a  Quaker,  was  brought  to  New  Haven  under  this 
law,  charged  with  pernicious  activity  in  "testifying,"  or 
preaching  in  public,  the  doctrine  of  his  sect.     On  his  trial 
in  the  little  court  house  on  the  market  place  portions  of 
his  writings  were  read,  "wherein,"  as  the  record  declares, 
"were  severall  horrible  errors  and  reproaches  if  not  more." 
Mr.  Davenport  refuted  these  direful  doctrines  in  a  sermon 
before  a  great  concourse  of  people,  "the  said  Humphrey 
making  much  hinderance  of  Mr.  Davenport  and  using  a 
boisterous,  bold  manner."     Subsequently  Norton  carried 
his  discourtesy  so  far  as  to  attempt  to  reply,  but  was  quickly 
checked  and  was  forthwith  whipped,  branded  and  banished 
in  order  to  make  it  clear  to  all  that  Mr.  Davenport  had  had 
the  best  of  the  argument.     Only  one  other  whipping  took 
place  under  this  law,  but  four  persons  complained  of  were 
admonished  and  dismissed  the  Colony. 


50  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

The  Only  Trial  for  Witchcraft. 

Gov.  Eaton's  code  also  contained  a  law  against  witch- 
craft of  course,  as  did  the  laws  of  every  civilized  country 
at  that  time.  It  was  copied  from  Exodus  xxii,  18,  and 
was  therefore  unquestionably  one  of  the  laws  of  God  as 
delivered  by  Moses.  Only  one  trial  for  witchcraft  was  ever 
held  in  New  Haven,  and  that  was  begun  in  1653  before 
Eaton's  Code  was  adopted.  The  defendant  was  an  old 
lady  of  extreme  unpopularity  on  account  of  her  acrid  dis- 
position and  disagreeable  manners,  named  Mrs.  Goodman, 
and  she  in  fact  started  the  investigation  herself  by  com- 
plaining that  Rev.  Mr.  Hooke  and  several  other  neighbors 
had  charged  her  with  being  a  witch.  The  result  was  a 
complete  turning  of  the  tables  on  Mrs.  Goodman,  who  was 
called  upon  to  explain  many  suspicious  circumstances  by 
which  the  alleged  slander  was  caused.  Rev.  Mr.  Hooke 
declared  that  his  boy  had  been  sick  in  a  very  strange  man- 
ner and  he  suspected  Mrs.  Goodman's  agency  in  it,  the 
more  especially  because  she  had  an  unaccountable  way  of 
always  knowing  what  had  been  done  at  secret  church 
meetings.  The  record  recites  an  important  piece  of  testi- 
mony as  follows: 

"Time,  Mr.  Hooke's  Indian,  said  in  church  meeting  she 
would  go  out  and  come  in  again,  and  tell  them  what  was 
done  at  meeting.  Time  asking  her  who  told,  she  answered 
plainly  she  would  not  tell.  Then  Time  said,  'did  not  ye 
Devill  tell  you?' 

"Time  also  said  she  heard  her  one  time  talking  to  her- 
self e  and  she  said,  'who  talk  you  too?'  She  said,  To  you.' 
Time  said,  'You  talke  to  ye  Devill;'  but  she  made  nothing 
of  it." 

Other  evidence  equally  conclusive  is  also  recited  in  the 
record.  "Another  thing  suspitious  is  that  she  could  tell 
Mrs.  Atwater  had  figgs  in  her  pocket  when  she  saw  none 
of  them;  to  that  she  answered  she  smelt  them,  and  could 
smell  figgs  if  she  came  in  the  room  nere  them  that  had 
them;  yet  at  this  time  Mrs.  Atwater  had  figgs  in  her  pocket 


AS    A    POLITICAL   AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  51 

and  came  neere  her  yet  she  smelt  them  not."  Betty 
Brewster  had  had  some  words  with  Mrs.  Goodman  on  one 
occasion,  and  "that  night  Betty  was  in  a  most  miserable 
case,  hearing  a  most  dreadful  noise  which  put  her  in  a  great 
feare  and  trembling  and  in  ye  morning  she  looked  as  one 
yt  had  bine  allmost  dead."  "Goodwife  Thorp  complained 
that  Mrs.  Goodman  came  to  her  house  to  buy  chickens; 
she  said  she  had  none  to  sell;  Mrs.  Goodman  said  'will  you 
give  them  all?'  So  she  went  away  and  quickly  after  one 
chicken  died  and  she  opened  it  and  it  was  consumed  inside 
to  water  and  wormes,  and  divers  others  of  them  droped  and 
now  they  are  missing  and  it  is  likely  dead  and  she  never 
saw  either  hen  or  chicken  that  was  so  consumed  within 
with  wormes."  The  investigation  continued  at  intervals 
for  about  two  years,  Mrs.  Goodman  being  in  jail  a  part  of 
the  time,  until  October  15,  1655,  when  Rev.  Mr.  Hooke 
brought  important  additional  evidence.  Mrs.  Goodman 
had  been  to  his  house  "to  beg  some  beare  and  being  offered 
some  that  had  been  standing  refused  it  and  would  hav  some 
newly  drawne,  which  she  had,  yet  went  away  in  a  mutter- 
ing, discontented  manner,  and  after  this,  though  that  night 
the  beare  was  good  and  fresh,  yet  the  next  morning  was 
hot,  soure  and  ill-tasted,  yea,  so  hott  as  the  barrell  was 
warme  on  the  outside  and  when  they  opened  the  bung  it 
steemed  forth;  they  brewed  againe  and  it  was  also,  and  so 
continued  foure  or  five  times  one  after  another."  The 
alarming  prospect  of  sour  beer  in  every  household  brought 
the  magistrates  to  a  prompt  decision.  The  Court  "declared 
unto  her  that  though  the  evidence  is  not  sufficient  as  yet 
to  take  away  her  life  yet  the  suspitions  are  cleare  and  many, 
and  that  she  must  forbeare  from  going  from  house  to  house 
to  give  offense  and  carry  it  orderly  in  the  family  where  she 
is;  which  if  she  does  not  she  will  cause  the  Court  to  commit 
her  to  prison  againe  and  that  she  doe  now  presently  upon 
her  freedom  give  security  for  her  good  behavior  in  the  sum 
of  50  pounds."  The  security  was  given  and  poor  old  dis- 
agreeable, unpopular  Mrs.  Goodman  was  permitted  to  dwell 


52  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

undisturbed  in  the  family  of  Thomas  Johnson,  where  she 
continued  till  her  death  five  years  later.  Commenting  on 
this  case  Dr.  Bacon  truly  says,  "Under  almost  any  other 
jurisdiction  of  that  age  this  woman,  instead  of  dying  in  her 
bed,  would  have  died  upon  the  gallows  or  been  burned 
alive."  Certainly  there  is  nothing  in  the  deliberate  and 
protracted  manner  of  conducting  this,  the  only  witchcraft 
trial  ever  had  in  New  Haven,  nor  in  its  final  result,  to  make 
us  ashamed  of  our  early  magistrates,  or  which  reflects  upon 
their  judicial  integrity. 


Early  Political  Dissensions. 

While  the  judicial  department  of  the  government  was 
thus  upholding  the  morals,  manners  and  orthodoxy  of  the 
Commonwealth,  the  political  experience  of  the  Colony  was 
not  entirely  serene.  The  feature  of  its  constitution  by 
which  church  members  alone  could  be  either  electors  or 
magistrates,  produced  an  unsettled  and  discontented  state 
of  public  feeling,  especially  in  the  outlying  towns  where 
the  personal  influence  of  Gov.  Eaton  and  Mr.  Davenport 
was  not  so  dominant  as  in  New  Haven.  Before  many 
years  these  towns  came  to  be  in  a  chronic  state  of  rebellion 
and  from  time  to  time  leaders  of  the  malcontents  were 
brought  before  the  Court  at  New  Haven,  charged  with 
sedition,  refusal  to  pay  taxes,  and  contempt  of  authority. 
Even  in  New  Haven  the  governing  saints  soon  found 
growing  up  around  them  a  powerful  party  of  dissatisfied 
sinners,  who  constituted  then  as  ever  since  a  large  and 
respectable  part  of  the  population.  It  was  in  vain  that 
they  were  invited  to  obtain  civil  privileges  by  joining  the 
church.  Either  the  remedy  seemed  worse  than  the  disease 
or  the  sinners  were  not  bad  enough  to  avail  themselves  of 
it;  and  the  example  of  Connecticut  close  by,  in  which  politi- 
cal rights  had  no  connection  with  church  membership,  was 
an  ever-present  stimulus  to  the  growing  discontent. 
When  therefore  it  was  known  in  1662  that  a  royal  charter 


AS    A    POLITICAL    AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  53 

had  been  sent  to  Connecticut  which  confirmed  its  demo- 
cratic institutions  and  laws  and  extended  its  jurisdiction 
over  New  Haven,  the  entire  population  of  New  Haven 
Colony  outside  of  the  church  party  were  urgent  for  the 
union.  By  the  latter,  however,  it  was  bitterly  opposed  and 
every  effort  put  forth  to  avert  it,  and  the  debates  on  this 
subject  at  the  town  meetings  kept  the  rude  little  meeting- 
house warm  from  1662  to  1665.  It  was  manifest,  however, 
from  the  start,  that  the  conservatives  were  doomed  to 
defeat,  and  when  the  other  towns  of  New  Haven  Colony 
began  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Connecticut  and  to 
elect  magistrates  under  its  authority,  it  was  useless  to  pro- 
long the  contest.  With  many  groans  and  under  a  formal 
protest  that  it  submitted  from  necessity  only,  the  town 
voted  January  13,  1665,  to  accept  the  union  provided  by 
the  Connecticut  charter.  The  fabric  of  the  political  Zion 
was  saved  by  this  abandonment  from  the  disruption  which 
had  already  commenced.  Nevertheless  its  fall  was  a  bitter 
disappointment  to  its  surviving  founders.  Mr.  Davenport 
especially  felt  it  as  a  fatal  blow  to  his  life-long  work  and 
hopes,  and  in  1668,  declaring  that  the  cause  of  Christ  in 
New  Haven  was  miserably  lost,  exiled  himself  to  Boston, 
where  he  died  in  the  following  year. 

Commercial  Disappointments. 

The  failure  of  their  political  system  was  not  the  only 
disappointment  which  tried  the  souls  of  New  Haven's 
founders  and  furnished  agitating  topics  of  discussion  at  its 
town  meetings.  Before  1650,  it  had  become  evident  that 
their  project  of  creating  a  commercial  emporium  here  was 
blasted,  and  various  disasters  had  discouraged  their  hearts 
and  exhausted  their  resources.  In  1641  an  attempt  had 
been  made  to  establish  a  trading  colony  on  the  banks  of 
the  Delaware  Bay,  lands  having  been  purchased  for  the 
purpose,  which  included  the  present  site  of  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  This  was  40  years  before  Penn  obtained  his 


54  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

grant,  and  had  the  enterprise  succeeded  a  removal  of  the 
whole  population  thither  would  probably  have  ensued. 
But  the  settlement  was  broken  up  by  the  Swedes  and 
Dutch,  and  a  pestilence,  and  when  the  project  was  renewed 
in  1650,  the  expedition  was  stopped  at  Manhattan  by  the 
Dutch  governor,  its  property  confiscated,  and  its  members 
imprisoned.  New  Haven  appealed  to  the  New  England 
Confederation  to  support  it  in  resisting  Dutch  violence  and 
the  Confederation  voted  to  do  so.  England  was  then  at 
war  with  Holland.  Manhattan  was  defenseless  and  could 
easily  have  been  taken.  Cromwell  sent  ships  to  Boston  to 
assist.  An  army  of  800  men  was  raised  and  ready  to  march, 
but  Massachusetts,  although  her  delegates  had  voted  for 
the  war,  refused  to  act.  During  the  delay  caused  by  her 
breach  of  faith,  peace  was  proclaimed  in  Europe,  and  New 
Haven  had  lost  the  opportunity  to  annex  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  to  her  suburbs.  Doubtless  the  air  over  the 
market  place  was  blue  about  this  time  with  remarks  uncom- 
plimentary to  Massachusetts,  and  the  magistrates  addressed 
a  letter  to  her  authorities  full  of  reproach  for  having  broken 
the  Confederation;  with  allusions  to  Jabin,  King  of  Canaan, 
the  Gibeonites,  Adonibezek  and  other  reprehensible  charac- 
ters which  were  evidently  intended  to  make  their  erring 
sister  feel  extremely  uncomfortable. 

In  1654  another  attempt  was  made  to  revive  the 
Delaware  enterprise  with  a  view  to  removal.  It  was 
discussed  in  town  meetings  for  three  or  four  years,  but 
the  discouragement  was  so  great  that  it  fell  through  at 
last,  and  the  last  hope  of  founding  a  commercial  city  was 
abandoned.  The  original  colonists  were  growing  old,  and 
had  sunk  nearly  all  their  capital.  Besides  the  heavy  losses 
on  the  Delaware,  the  "Great  Shippe"  of  100  tons  built  and 
freighted  with  a  supreme  effort  in  1646  had  been  swallowed 
up,  sending  back  no  sign  of  its  fate  but  the  phantom  which 
two  years  later  mocked  their  straining  eyes  for  a  moment 
and  then  "vanished  in  a  smoaky  cloud."  So  strongly  were 
the  minds  of  the  whole  community  bent  on  removal  that 


AS    A    POLITICAL    AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  55 

not  only  Delaware  Bay  was  considered,  but  subsequently  a 
proposal  received  from  Oliver  Cromwell,  then  Lord  Pro- 
tector, to  provide  them  a  location  in  Jamaica.  This 
proposition  was  earnestly  debated  in  successive  town  meet- 
ings, with  strong  inclination  to  accept  it;  but  after  long 
consideration  was  given  up,  largely  because  the  people  were 
too  poor  and  dispirited  to  make  the  change.  It  had  now 
become  evident  that  New  Haven  must  mainly  depend  for 
its  subsistence  on  the  hard  and  meager  returns  of  agricul- 
ture, and  the  people  settled  down  with  such  resignation  as 
they  could  to  the  necessity  of  the  situation. 


Arrival  of  the  Regicides. 

In  the  summer  of  1660,  it  was  known  in  New  Haven  that 
the  English  Commonwealth  had  come  to  an  end  and  that  a 
king  was  again  on  the  throne.  The  situation  of  the  New 
England  Colonies  as  notorious  sympathizers  with  the 
rebellion  was  critical,  and  not  long  afterwards,  to  com- 
plicate their  anxieties,  the  regicides,  Goffe  and  Whalley, 
landed  at  Boston,  fleeing  for  their  lives  to  the  only  part 
of  the  world  where  they  could  hope  for  safety.  From 
Boston  they  came  to  New  Haven  in  March,  1661,  followed 
in  May  by  officers  with  a  warrant  for  their  arrest.  The 
story  of  their  concealment  here,  the  bold  appeal  of  Mr. 
Davenport  "to  hide  the  outcast  and  bewray  not  him  that 
wandereth,"  the  conference  in  the  court  room  of  the  market 
place  between  the  baffled  pursuers  and  the  magistrates,  the 
fidelity  and  daring  of  the  whole  community  in  behalf  of  the 
refugees,  which  ensured  their  final  escape, — all  these  will 
never  be  forgotten,  as  forming  an  episode  of  lasting  honor 
in  the  history  of  New  Haven.  In  fact,  Massachusetts  was 
alarmed  at  the  possible  consequences  to  New  England  and 
remonstrated  with  New  Haven  concerning  its  conduct. 
It  is  probable  that  the  authorities  here  also  became  some- 
what uneasy,  and  thought  it  best  to  cover  up  their  action 
by  an  effusive  demonstration  of  loyalty.  Accordingly  three 


56  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

months  later,  i.  e.,  August  22,  1661,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  pursuant  to  a  vote  by  the  town  the  day  before, 
although  it  was  more  than  a  year  after  the  news  of  the 
Restoration  had  been  received,  the  troops  were  drawn  up 
in  front  of  the  meeting-house  and  proclamation  was  publicly 
made,  that  "we  do  acknowledge  his  Royal  Highness, 
Charles  the  Second,  King  of  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland,  to  be  our  sovereign  Lord  and  King,  and  that  we 
do  acknowledge  ourselves  the  inhabitants  of  this  Colony  to 
be  his  majesties  loyall  and  faithful  subjects."  Then  with 
the  cry  "God  save  the  King"  to  the  beating  of  drums  and 
a  royal  salute  from  the  guns  of  the  soldiers,  the  ceremony 
ended. 

It  was  at  this  juncture  that  John  Winthrop  reached 
Hartford,  bringing  a  royal  charter  for  Connecticut  which 
confirmed  and  established  its  existing  government  and 
privileges  and  extended  its  jurisdiction  so  as  to  embrace 
the  colony  of  New  Haven.  Nothing  could  have  been 
more  opportune  or  fortunate  for  New  Haven,  since  by  this 
arrangement  she  would  not  only  be  at  once  relieved  from 
all  further  danger  on  account  of  her  contumacy  in  the 
matter  of  the  regicides,  but  would  secure  legal  recognition 
and  protection  as  a  body  politic;  while  without  a  charter 
she  would  be  liable  to  treatment  as  an  outlaw.  These 
obvious  considerations  and  the  clear  necessity  of  the  case 
were  of  themselves  a  conclusive  argument  in  favor  of  union 
with  Connecticut,  apart  from  the  internal  dissensions  of  the 
colony  already  adverted  to.  The  change,  however, 
brought  about  was  a  happy  one.  Government  by  the 
saints  had  proved  a  total  failure,  and  the  lesson  was  taught, 
if  not  permanently  learned,  that  that  political  creed  which 
begins  and  ends  with  supporting  only  men  of  the  best 
character  for  office  without  regard  to  their  views  of  govern- 
mental policy,  is  a  defective  one,  whether  embodied  in  a 
state  constitution  or  in  the  practice  of  the  "independent" 
voter. 


AS    A    POLITICAL   AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  57 

Under  the  Connecticut  Charter. 

After  the  union  had  become  an  accomplished  fact,  that  is 
to  say,  after  1665,  the  political  atmosphere  of  the  market 
place  became  more  tranquil.  The  County  Court,  newly 
established  by  the  laws  of  Connecticut,  with  judge  and  jury, 
concerned  itself  with  legal  offenders  only  and  ceased  to  be 
a  wash-house  for  all  the  dirty  linen  of  the  community.  The 
town  government  was  undisturbed  and  there  were  plenty 
of  subjects  for  discussion  in  the  town  meetings.  In  1675 
the  dark  cloud  of  King  Philip's  war  overshadowed  all  New 
England,  and  New  Haven  had  its  share  of  the  excitement. 
The  alarm  was  so  great  that  it  was  voted  to  surround  the 
town  with  a  palisade,  and  the  work,  by  the  arduous  labor  of 
a  year,  was  accomplished.  The  meeting-house  was  forti- 
fied and  all  persons  was  ordered  to  bring  their  arms  with 
them  to  the  Sunday  services.  The  neighboring  Indians 
were  placed  under  surveillance;  the  nightly  watch,  which 
had  fallen  into  disuse,  was  re-established,  and  troops  were 
raised  and  drilled  in  the  market  place  and  marched  forth 
from  it  to  join  the  united  army  of  New  England  for  service 
in  the  field. 

Ten  years  after  the  close  of  Philip's  war  there  were 
gatherings  in  the  market  place  to  discuss  new  political 
events  of  ominous  importance.  James  II.,  the  worst  of 
the  Stuarts,  and  an  old  enemy  of  New  England,  had  come 
to  the  throne,  and  a  royal  envoy,  Sir  Edmond  Andross,  had 
already  arrived  in  Boston  with  instructions  to  cancel  all  the 
New  England  charters  and  to  rule  the  colonies  as  their 
governor  under  sole  authority  of  the  king.  In  October, 
1687,  Andross  reached  Hartford  on  this  mission,  and 
though  thwarted  in  his  attempt  to  get  possession  of  the 
Connecticut  charter,  he  abrogated  its  authority  and  assumed 
governmental  powers.  Not  many  days  afterwards  New 
Haven  was  thrown  into  a  flurry  of  excitement  by  his  arrival 
in  person.  Here  he  spent  Sunday  and  attended  service  in 
the  meeting-house,  where  it  is  said  he  was  welcomed  with 


58  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

sacred  music  in  which  the  following  hymn  was  expressively 
rendered,  each  line  being  given  out  separately  and  sung 
by  the  whole  congregation: 

Why  dost  thou  tyrant  boast  abroad 

Thy  wicked  works  to  praise? 
Dost  thou  not  know  there  is  a  God, 

Whose  mercies  last  always? 

Why  doth  thy  mind  yet  still  devise 
'  Such  wicked  wiles  to  warp? 

Thy  tongue  untrue  in  forging  lies 
Is  like  a  razor  sharp. 

Thou  dost  delight  in  fraud  and  guile 

In  mischief,  blood  and  wrong. 
Thy  lips  have  learned  the  flatt'ring  style 

O,  false  deceitful  tongue! 

It  is  also  reported  that  the  Governor  criticised  this 
particular  praise  service  as  containing  a  somewhat  objec- 
tionable mixture  of  religion  and  politics.  If  so,  he  was 
probably  the  first  but  certainly  not  the  last  person  who  has 
made  a  similar  remark  after  attending  divine  worship  in 
that  ancient  meeting-house  or  one  of  its  successors. 

Under  the  reign  of  Andross  the  General  Assembly  of 
Connecticut  was  abolished,  and  all  laws  were  sent  from 
Boston  to  be  publicly  read.  Happily  this  condition  of 
affairs  did  not  last  long.  On  the  3d  of  May,  1689,  a  town 
meeting  was  called  hurriedly  and  the  joyful  announcement 
made  that  a  revolution  had  occurred  in  England,  James 
II.  was  an  exile  and  Andross  was  in  prison  at  Boston.  The 
charter  government  was  at  once  re-established  and  a  month 
later  William  and  Mary  were  proclaimed  in  the  market 
place.  There  was  no  delay  this  time,  and  no  lack  of 
enthusiasm. 

During  the  hundred  years  which  elapsed  between  the 
union  with  Connecticut  and  the  excitement  which  culmi- 
nated in  the  Revolutionary  war,  the  political  events  which 
occurred  on  the  Green  were  not  for  the  most  part  very 
stirring.  They  consisted  chiefly  of  the  town  and  colony 
elections  and  of  the  town  meetings  for  local  business.  In 


AS   A    POLITICAL   AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  59 

these  there  were  many  discussions  concerning  school  and 
college  affairs,  which  belong  more  properly  to  the  educa- 
tional history  of  the  Green;  and  others  with  reference  to 
the  settlement  and  support  of  ministers,  which  are  con- 
nected with  its  religious  history.  The  most  important 
changes  in  the  civil  and  governmental  machinery  took 
place  in  1701. 

In  that  year  Justices  of  the  Peace  were  first  elected,  and 
Justice  Courts  established,  and  the  court  system  was  farther 
enlarged  by  the  establishment  of  the  Superior  Court. 
Strange  to  say,  all  this  paraphernalia  of  courts  and  even 
the  existence  of  a  flourishing  jail  failed  to  develop  a  County 
Bar,  or  even  for  many  years  a  single  professional  lawyer; 
a  circumstance  which  may  possibly  explain  the  prevalent 
tranquility  in  politics  and  activity  in  religion.  In  the 
same  year,  1701,  New  Haven  became  a  co-capital  with 
Hartford  and  the  October  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly 
began  to  be  held  here,  the  May  session  being  held  in 
Hartford.  There  being  no  State  House  until  1719,  the 
meeting-house  on  the  market  place  was  used  until  that  date 
for  the  lower  and  larger  branch.  The  Council,  which  con- 
sisted of  only  twelve  persons,  held  its  sessions  sometimes 
at  Mr.  Miles'  tavern,  and  at  least  once  (in  1717)  in  the 
newly  erected  College  Hall. 

Royal  Accessions  Proclaimed, 

It  may  be  that  the  loyal  people  of  New  Haven  celebrated 
the  accession  of  Queen  Anne  to  the  throne  in  1702,  but  no 
memorandum  to  that  effect  appears  on  the  town  records. 

News  of  Queen  Anne's  death  and  of  the  accession  of 
George  I.  was  received  in  October,  1714,  and  on  the  4th 
of  that  month,  by  order  of  the  General  Assembly,  proclama- 
tion was  made  of  these  events  with  appropriate  ceremony. 
"Minute  guns  were  fired  during  the  forenoon  in  honor  of 
the  departed  sovereign,"  and  in  the  afternoon  her  successor 
was  proclaimed  at  the  head  of  the  regiment,  which  was 
drawn  up  under  arms  "in  the  Great  Square  before  the 


60  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

Court  House."*  Every  soldier  was  furnished  with  half  a 
pound  of  powder  to  make  a  racket  with,  and  with  "wine 
and  biskitt"  in  unlimited  quantities.  In  the  evening  there 
were  illuminations,  but  from  apprehensions  as  to  the  stimu- 
lating effects  of  "the  biskett"  bonfires  were  strictly  for- 
bidden. 

In  1727  another  change  of  sovereigns  called  forth  a 
specially  brilliant  demonstration.  It  was  in  October,  and 
the  General  Assembly,  then  in  session  here,  resolved  to  do 
loyal  honor  to  the  occasion.  It  was  accordingly  ordered 
"that  his  Majesty  King  George  the  Second  be  proclaimed 
at  New  Haven  Wednesday,  October  4th."  Also  that  "the 
troop  of  the  County  of  New  Haven,  five  of  the  eldest  foot 
companies  in  the  town  of  New  Haven  and  two  foot  com- 
panies from  Milford  attend  the  proclamation,"  and  that  "a 
treat  of  30  pounds  be  made  for  their  refreshment."  Also 
"that  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  powder  be  furnished  for  each 
centinel  and  sufficient  powder  for  discharging  three  of  the 
Great  Guns."  Candles  were  ordered  for  illuminating  the 
State  House  and  the  Sheriff  was  specially  enjoined  "to 
bring  to  the  same  place  a  barrel  of  good  wine  at  the 
expense  of  the  County  for  refreshment  of  ye  Assembly." 
A  later  entry  records  that  the  orders  were  carried  out  both 
in  the  letter  and  the  spirit;  that  not  only  the  Governor 
and  Council  and  Assembly  but  also  the  Reverend  Trus- 
tees of  Yale  College  and  the  clergy  were  on  hand  to 
dispose  of  the  barrel  of  wine;  and  a  great  concourse  of 
people  being  present,  all  the  officials  "took  the  oath  of 
allegiance  and  the  solemn  declaration  against  Popery, 
according  to  the  Act  of  Parliament." 

The  last  event  of  this  kind  which  occurred  on  the  market 
place  was  that  in  honor  of  George  III.,  the  repudiation  of 
whose  rule  25  years  later  has  been  the  cause  of  more  cele- 
brations upon  its  surface  than  any  other  event  in  our 
history.  The  account  of  the  ceremony  in  the  Connecticut 

*  As  the  first  Court  House  was  not  built  until  1719,  the  building  here 
meant  must  have  been  the  meeting-house  where  the  General  Assembly  or 
"  General  Court"  was  holding  its  session. 


AS    A    POLITICAL    AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  61 

Gazette  is  quite  elaborate.  The  day  was  January-  22,  1761, 
and  we  are  told  that  "notwithstanding  the  severity  of  the 
season,  a  great  concourse  of  people,  with  two  troops  of 
horse  and  four  companies  of  foot,  convened  with  great 
alacrity"  at  noon  on  "the  great  square  before  the  Town 
House,  (i.  e.,  the  State  House  of  1719,  near  the  corner  of 
Elm  and  College  streets.)"  The  Governor  read  a  lengthy 
proclamation  reciting  the  death  of  "George  II.  of  blessed 
and  glorious  memory,"  and  "acknowledging  with  one  full 
voice  and  consent  of  heart  all  faith  and  constant  obedience 
with  all  hearty  and  humble  affection  to  our  only  lawful  and 
rightful  liege  lord,  George  III.,"  giving  a  full  list  of  his 
titles  and  concluding  with  the  formula,  "God  save  the 
King."  The  proclamation,  it  is  added,  "was  subscribed  by 
his  honor  the  Governor,  the  Deputy  Governor  and  the 
gentlemen  of  the  Council  and  many  other  gentlemen  of  a 
civil,  military  and  ecclesiastical  character,  and  was  followed 
by  three  general  huzzas  and  a  royal  salute  of  21  cannons." 
After  which  the  Governor  and  other  persons  of  distinction 
proceeded  to  Mr.  Beers'  tavern,  where,  before  the  com- 
pany separated,  we  are  assured  that  many  "loyal  healths 
were  drunk"  but  what  or  who  else  the  narrator  does  not 
inform  us. 

Approach  of  the  Revolution. 

Two  years  after  this  loyal  demonstration  the  political  at- 
mosphere of  the  market  place  was  being  stirred  by  currents 
which  blew  in  quite  a  different  direction.  The  interference 
by  Great  Britain  with  the  commercial  and  manufacturing 
pursuits  of  the  Colonies  was  already  arousing  a  spirit  of 
resistance  and  stimulating  a  disposition  to  protect  and 
encourage  home  industries,  a  disposition  which  seems  at 
the  present  day  to  have  not  entirely  died  out. 

In  February,  1763,  a  town  meeting  adopted  resolutions 
recommending  the  non-importation  from  abroad  of  such 
goods  and  articles  as  could  be  produced  in  the  colonies 
and  the  refusal  to  purchase  them  if  imported.  In  1765 


62  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

the  excitement  was  increased  by  the  Stamp  Act,  and  numer- 
ous town  meetings,  held  sometimes  in  the  State  House 
and  sometimes  in  the  Brick  Meeting-house,  denounced  it 
and  voted  to  disobey  it.  The  courts  were  requested  to  dis- 
regard its  requirements  entirely,  at  the  risk  of  having  their 
proceedings  declared  invalid,  and  protection  was  promised 
to  the  officials  if  they  would  do  so.  The  tolling  of  the 
bells  on  the  Green  on  the  day  the  act  took  effect  has 
been  described  in  a  previous  paper,  and  also  the  jubilation 
which  six  months  afterwards  greeted  the  news  of  its  repeal. 
In  1768  other  non-importation  agreements  were  adopted 
in  public  meeting,  and  when  in  1770  the  New  York 
merchants  repudiated  them,  the  merchants  of  New  Haven 
assembled  at  the  State  House  and  voted  to  boycott  New 
York  by  transferring  their  trade  to  Boston  and  Philadelphia. 
Later  in  the  year  a  convention  of  delegates  from  Connecti- 
cut towns  met  in  the  State  House  and  voted  to  modify  the 
list  of  contraband  articles  so  far  as  to  permit,  among  other 
things,  the  importation  of  powder  and  shot. 

In  May,  1774,  the  British  government  having  closed  the 
port  of  Boston  as  a  punishment  for  the  destruction  of  tea, 
a  town  meeting  appointed  a  Committee  of  Correspondence 
to  confer  with  the  other  colonies  for  the  protection  of 
American  liberties  and  rights.  On  the  2Oth  of  June  follow- 
ing, the  town  passed  a  resolution  in  favor  of  a  general 
annual  Congress  of  all  the  American  Colonies.  A  later 
meeting  voted  to  transmit  aid  to  the  suffering  town  of 
Boston  and  directed  the  selectmen  to  buy  powder  and  build 
a  powder-house.  It  was  this  powder  and  the  key  of  this 
powder-house  which  Benedict  Arnold  and  the  New  Haven 
Foot  Guards,  after  the  battle  of  Lexington,  demanded 
from  the  not  unwilling  selectmen  assembled  in  the  town 
house. 

We  may  imagine  the  popular  excitement  on  the  Green 
when  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  reached  town, 
and  the  admiring  crowds  there  when,  a  few  days  later, 
Gen.  Washington  and  staff  arrived,  on  their  way  to 


AS    A    POLITICAL    AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  63 

Cambridge,  to  take  command  of  the  American  army. 
They  stayed  at  Mr.  Beers'  tavern,  where  the  New  Haven 
House  now  stands,  and  "early  next  morning,"  as  the  news- 
paper informs  us,  "they  set  out  for  the  Provincial  Camp 
near  Boston  attended  by  great  numbers  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  town.  They  were  escorted  out  of  town  by  a 
company  of  young  gentlemen  belonging  to  the  Seminary 
in  this  place,  who  made  a  handsome  appearance  and  whose 
expertness  in  the  military  exercises  gained  them  the  appro- 
bation of  the  generals."  Probably  nearly  as  much  interest 
was  felt  at  least  in  social  circles  when  in  December  of  the 
same  year  "the  lady  of  his  Excellency,  Gen.  Washington, 
and  the  lady  of  the  Adjt.  Gen.  Gates  arrived  in  town  from 
Virginia,  being  on  their  way  to  Cambridge."  In  the  follow- 
ing April,  1776,  the  British  having  been  meantime  expelled 
from  Boston,  Gen.  and  Mrs.  Washington  were  again  in 
New  Haven  on  their  way  to  the  seat  of  war  in  New  York. 

During  the  Revolution. 

My  limits  will  not  permit  detailed  reference  to  the 
numerous  meetings,  official  and  popular,  which  were  held 
on  the  Green  in  the  course  of  the  Revolution,  relating  to  its 
progress  and  the  share  of  New  Haven  therein.  Fortifica- 
tions, beacons  and  alarms  were  provided  for,  also  the 
raising,  equipment  and  supplies  of  troops  and  the  care  of 
their  families.  Strange  to  say,  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence does  not  seem  to  have  awakened  any  public  demon- 
stration, and  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  officially 
proclaimed  or  even  promulgated,  unless  from  the  pulpits. 
It  is  referred  to  in  the  newspapers  in  no  other  way  than  as 
a  part  of  the  current  news  of  the  day,  without  display  or 
comment,*  and  we  do  not  know  that  a  single  gun  was  fired 
or  a  single  cheer  raised  on  the  Green  in  honor  of  the 
nation's  birth.  At  the  October  session  of  the  Legislature, 
however,  held  in  New  Haven,  that  body  passed  an  act  in 

*  See  Note  2. 


64  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

recognition  of  the  new  order  of  things.     This  act  declared 
the  charter  of  Charles  II.  to  be  the  civil  constitution  of  the 
,tatc,    under   the   sole   authority    of   the    people   thereof, 
independent  of  any  prince  or  king  whatever,  and  that  1 
republic  is  and  shall  forever  remain  a  free,  sovereign  and 
independent  state  by  the  name  of  the  State  of  Connecticut^ 
Exit  "our  only  rightful  and  lawful  liege  lord,  George  III., 
to  whom  in  1761  we  pledged  all  faith  and  constant  obedi- 
ence with  all  hearty  and  humble  affection." 

In  January,  1778,  an  important  convention  of  delegate; 
from  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Con- 
necticut, New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  assembled  at  New 
Haven,  called  by  Congress  in  the  vain  hope  of  bolstering  up 
the    commercial    value    of    the    depreciating    Continental 
currency  by  resolutions  regulating  prices.     They  met  in 
the  State  House  and  were  in  session  about  two  weeks.     A 
report  was  adopted  fixing  prices  for  nearly  all  the  neces- 
saries of  life  including  "a  bole  of  toddy"  and  "mug  of  flip." 
The  high  charges  for  liquor  at  this  time  seems  to  have 
been  a  source  of  much  public  anxiety.     In  1779  it  was 
voted  by  a  town  meeting  that  "the  town  disapproves  of  a 
greater  price  for  good  West  India  rum  than  32  dollars  a 
gallon  at  retail  and  will  treat  with  proper  contempt  all  who 
sell  for  more  or  refuse  trade."     To  prevent  any  mistake 
as  to  the  meaning  of  this  vote  a  committee  was  appointed 
"to  report  the  sense  of  the  meeting  to  Capt.  Elisha  Forbes." 
In    May,    1778,    Gen.    Benedict    Arnold,    who    had    in 
September  previous  distinguished  himself  at  the  battle  of 
Saratoga,  and  in  the  capture  of  Burgc-yne,  arrived  in  town 
and  was  received  with  public  honors.      In   conspicuous 
contrast  with  this  demonstration  was  one  in  October,  1780, 
with  reference  to  the  same  individual  after  his  treason. 
On  that  occasion  a  procession  was  the  principal  feature, 
in  which  an  effigy  of  Arnold  was  carried,  seated  on  a 
platform;  a  figure  of  the  devil  was  behind  him  shaking  a 
purse  of  money  in  one  hand  and  holding  in  the  other  a 
pitchfork,  while  a  transparency  in  front  illustrated  his  trea- 


AS    A    POLITICAL    AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  65 

sonable  act.  Following  the  platform  were  numerous 
prominent  citizens  and  military  officers,  who  paraded  with 
it  through  the  principal  streets  and  then  burned  the  images 
on  the  Green  in  a  public  bonfire. 

In  1781  the  town  made  amends  for  its  neglect  to  celebrate 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  by  a  great  public  rejoicing 
over  the  defeat  of  Cornwallis.  We  learn  from  the  Con- 
necticut Journal  that  "a  numerous  assembly  convened  at  the 
Brick  Meeting-house,  where  the  audience  was  highly  enter- 
tained with  an  animating,  pathetic  and  ingenious  oration 
delivered  by  one  of  the  tutors,  and  a  triumphant  hymn 
sung  by  the  students.  The  clergy  and  a  number  of 
other  gentlemen  dined  in  the  State  House.  In  the 
evening  the  State  House,  College  and  all  houses  around 
the  market  place  were  beautifully  illuminated.  The 
whole  was  conducted  with  the  greatest  regularity, 
good  nature,  festivity  and  joy."  Still  more  exuberant  were 
the  joyful  demonstrations  in  1783  which  celebrated  the 
Treaty  of  Peace  and  the  acknowledgment  by  Great  Britain 
of  the  independence  of  the  United  States.  "The  day  was 
ushered  in  by  a  discharge  of  thirteen  cannons  paraded  on 
the  Green  for  that  purpose  under  elegant  silk  colors,  with 
the  coat  of  arms  of  the  United  States  most  ingeniously 
represented  thereon,  which  was  generously  contributed 
upon  the  occasion  by  the  ladies  of  the  town."  At  nine 
o'clock  a  great  multitude  crowded  the  Brick  Church,  where 
there  were  services  with  anthems,  and  singing  by  all  the 
choirs  in  concert,  and  "a  very  ingenious  oration  spoken  by 
Tutor  Goodrich."  Dr.  Stiles  records  in  his  diary:  "I 
prayed  a  thanksgiving  prayer  of  XL  minutes."  In  the 
afternoon  a  dinner  was  had  at  the  coffee  house  with  thirteen 
patriotic  toasts  responded  to  by  cannon,  and  in  the  even- 
ing fireworks,  rockets,  etc.,  and  a  bonfire  on  the  Green. 
We  are  also  assured  that  a  most  pacific  disposition  and 
heartfelt  joy  was  universally  conspicuous  and  most  emphati- 
cally expressed  by  the  features  of  every  countenance." 
As  a  fitting  sequence  to  this  happy  event,  early  in  the  follow- 


66  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

ing  year  a  town  meeting  voted  to  bury  the  bloody  shirt 
with  respect  to  resident  tories,  and  thus  the  Revolutionary 
War  so  far  as  New  Haven  was  concerned  was  brought  to 
a  final  and  satisfactory  end. 


Under  the  First  City  Charter. 

The  year  1784  began  a  new  era  in  New  Haven's  political 
relations,  through  the  organization  of  a  city  government, 
which  took  place  at  the  State  House,  February  n,  1784. 
At  this  meeting  the  city  charter  was  accepted  and  Roger 
Sherman  chosen  Mayor  with  no  limitation  to  his  term  of 
office  except  the  pleasure  of  the  General  Assembly.*  In 
1791  Mr.  Sherman  was  chosen  a  United  States  Senator, 
and  he  continued  to  hold  both  offices  until  his  death  in 

1793- 

Scarcely  had  the  wheels  of  city  government  begun  to 
revolve  when  the  discovery  was  made  of  an  important 
omission  in  the  charter.  No  powers  had  been  granted  to 
extend  to  illustrious  visitors  "the  freedom  of  the  city,"  and 
this  vital  defect  had  to  be  remedied  by  a  special  act  of  the 
Legislature.  When  thus  authorized  to  act,  a  city  meeting 
immediately  bestowed  "the  freedom  of  the  city"  upon  Hon. 
William  Michael  St.  John  de  Creve  Coeur,  Consul  General 
to  his  most  Christian  Majesty  for  the  State  of  Connecticut, 
New  Jersey  and  New  York,  and  also  upon  his  children  and 
"his  wife  Mehitabel."  The  lady,  whose  name  suggests 
New  England  origin,  was  the  only  dame,  colonial  or  other, 
who  was  ever  thus  honored  in  New  Haven.  Whatever 
regrets  we  may  feel  on  this  account,  we  shall  probably  agree 
that  the  practice  of  granting  the  freedom  of  the  city  to 
children,  if  it  became  general,  might  have  its  disadvantages. 
In  the  following  year  the  fountain  of  honor  was  again 
opened  for  the  benefit  of  several  titled  Frenchmen,  not  so 
fortunate  as  to  possess  American  wives,  after  which  it  sud- 
denly dried  up.f  In  fact,  it  was  soon  found  that  comers 

*  See  Note  3.  f  See  Note  4. 


AS    A    POLITICAL    AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  67 

from  foreign  shores  had  no  trouble  in  securing  the  full 
freedom  of  the  city  without  any  special  effort  to  aid  them 
on  the  part  of  the  municipal  authorities. 

It  is  proper  to  state  that  the  municipal  hospitality  was 
not  exclusively  aristocratic  in  its  scope.  In  1784  a  city 
meeting  held  in  the  State  House  appointed  a  committee 
to  welcome  and  assist  all  strangers  coming  to  reside  in 
New  Haven,  to  furnish  them  with  all  necessary  informa- 
tion "and  to  cultivate  their  acquaintance  so  that  their 
residence  may  be  rendered  as  agreeable  and  eligible  as 
possible."  The  population  of  the  city  was  then  about 
3,500  and  doubtless  the  large  increase  which  has  since 
occurred  has  been  principally  due  to  the  enthusiastic  way 
in  which  these  cordial  sentiments  toward  "interlopers"  have 
always  been  carried  out  by  our  town-born  citizens. 

Like  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  that  other  great 
event,  the  adoption  of  the  present  United  States  Constitu- 
tion in  1787,  seems  to  have  attracted  little  attention  com- 
mensurate with  its  importance.  The  town  appointed  dele- 
gates to  the  State  Convention  which  was  called  to  act  upon 
its  ratification  and  instructed  them  to  approve  it,  but  no 
other  notice  appears  in  the  public  records.  Two  years 
later,  in  October,  1789,  an  interesting  occurrence,  partly 
political  in  its  nature,  enlivened  the  Green, — the  visit  of 
President  Washington  on  his  tour  through  New  England. 
The  local  press,  for  once,  gives  full  particulars  of  this 
occasion.  The  Legislature  was  in  session  and  took  suitable 
action  for  the  President's  reception,  with  an  escort,  salutes, 
and  an  inevitable  address.  The  Congregational  ministers 
were  also  out  in  force  with  another  address  of  congratula- 
tion and  eulogy.  The  President,  who  travelled  in  his  own 
carriage,  arrived  on  Saturday  afternoon  and  staid  over 
Sunday,  attending  service  in  the  morning  at  Trinity  Church, 
which  then  stood  on  Church  street  near  Chapel,  and  in 
the  afternoon  at  the  Blue  Meeting-house  on  the  corner  of 
Elm  and  Church  streets.  At  the  latter  service  a  great 
congregation  attended,  expecting  a  specially  grand  dis- 


68  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

course  in  honor  of  the  occasion.  To  their  great  chagrin 
the  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Edwards,  gave  out  the  text,  "Train  up 
a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and  when  he  is  old  he  will 
not  depart  from  it,"  and  added,  "In  speaking  from  these 
words  I  direct  my  remarks  principally  to  the  children  in  the 
galleries."  On  the  President's  return  he  spent  another 
night  in  New  Haven,  but  there  was  no  public  demonstra- 
tion. 

As  already  stated,  the  city  government  was  organized  in 
the  State  House  then  standing  on  Temple  street.  In  this 
building  all  city  meetings  were  held  till  1805,  and  generally 
thereafter  till  1828,  when  for  three  years,  until  the  new  State 
House  was  completed,  they  were  held  in  the  basement  of 
the  Methodist  Church  near  the  corner  of  Elm  and  College 
streets;  thereafter  until  1880  or  later  they  were  held  in  the 
basement  of  the  new  State  House.  The  Common  Council 
held  its  sessions  in  the  State  House  till  1803,  then  for  two 
years  in  private  offices  and  dwelling-houses.  After  1805 
it  occupied  a  room  in  the  County  House,  then  recently 
built  where  the  County  Court  House  now  stands. 

In  1794  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  was  organized  in 
the  State  House.  This  institution,  though  long  dormant, 
is  now  doing  good  work  for  New  Haven  and  promises  to 
be  an  important  agency  in  its  future  prosperity. 

National  Politics  in  Town  and  City  Meetings. 

For  many  years  after  the  new  national  government 
went  into  operation  the  town  and  city  meetings  were 
in  the  habit  (now  carefully  avoided)  of  passing  resolu- 
tions and  voting  addresses  to  the  President,  Congress 
and  other  political  bodies  on  the  subject  of  national 
affairs.  In  1793  President  Washington  was  assured  in  five 
long  resolutions  that  his  policy  of  neutrality  was  warmly 
approved  and  that  "the  people  of  the  town  would  exert 
themselves  to  promote  a  conduct  friendly  and  impartial 
towards  the  nations  of  Europe."  In  April,  1796,  a  city 


AS    A'    POLITICAL    AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  69 

meeting  voted  an  address  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
in  Congress  deprecating  any  action  hostile  to  Jay's  treaty 
with  Great  Britain,  which  had  then  been  recently  ratified. 
In  1801  the  administration  of  John  Adams  was  enthusias- 
tically applauded  and  in  succeeding  years  that  of  Jefferson 
was  vigorously  and  continuously  assailed.  The  transcend- 
ent virtues  of  that  statesman  were  not  generally  appre- 
ciated in  New  Haven  till  a  much  later  date,  and  the  resolu- 
tions which  were  frequently  adopted  in  town  meetings  con- 
cerning him  did  not  at  all  resemble  the  eulogistic  allusions 
of  a  Monticello  Club  in  1892. 

In  1808,  78  vessels  being  then  shut  up  in  New  Haven 
harbor  by  the  "Dambargo,"  and  the  commercial  prosperity 
of  the  town  apparently  in  its  last  gasp,  a  lengthy  memorial 
of  protest  was  adopted  in  town  meeting  addressed  to 
President  Jefferson,  to  which  the  President  returned  an 
unsatisfactory  reply.  The  town  responded  in  the  following 
January,  1809,  with  some  still  more  vehement  resolutions, 
declaring  the  embargo  to  be  unconstitutional,  hinting  at 
open  resistance  and  calling  on  the  Governor  and  Legisla- 
ture to  meet  and  take  measures  for  the  protection  of  its 
rights.  The  embargo  was  raised  in  1809,  but  other  meas- 
ures followed  almost  equally  obnoxious  which  aroused 
repeated  complaints.  The  last  memorial  in  1814  repre- 
sented New  Haven  as  "already  reduced  to  poverty  and 
wretchedness."  Relief  came  at  last  with  peace  in  1815, 
but  the  commercial  interests  of  New  Haven  did  not  recover 
from  the  blows  they  had  received  and  its  career  as  a 
manufacturing  town  practically  dates  from  this  period. 

Great  was  the  rejoicing  on  the  Green  when  the  news  of 
peace  arrived.  Bells  rang,  cannons  were  fired,  small  boys 
chalked  "peace"  on  doors  and  fences,  and  it  is  hinted  by 
Mr.  Trowbridge  that  "most  of  the  rum  which  had  weath- 
ered the  gales  of  non-intercourse,  the  embargo  act  and  the 
blockade  was  consumed  on  the  joyful  night  of  February 
13,  1815."  A  week  later  most  of  the  citizens  who  were 
sufficiently  sober,  "repaired  to  the  new  Brick  Meeting- 


70  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

house  (the  present  Center  Church)  to  hold  a  Thanksgiving 
service,  where  discourses  were  delivered  by  Dr.  Dwight 
and  Messrs.  Merwin  and  Taylor." 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  there  were  no  oratorical  or 
other  political  displays  on  the  Green  during  Jefferson's 
and  Madison's  administrations,  except  from  their  federalist 
opponents.  A  small  contingent  of  democrats,  with  Abraham 
Bishop  for  their  spokesman  and  leader,  made  nearly  as 
much  noise  in  Fourth  of  July  orations,  public  banquets  in 
the  State  House  and  other  opportunities  as  the  federalists, 
who  held  the  town  and  state  offices,  and  who  constituted 
the  great  body  of  the  people.  By  1816,  the  little  faction  had 
combined  with  itself  all  the  elements  of  popular  discontent 
especially  with  respect  to  religious  grievances,  and  under 
the  name  of  the  Toleration  Party  was  able  in  1817  to  carry 
the  State  and  the  Legislature.  The  immediate  result  of 
the  Toleration  triumph  was  the  State  Constitution  of  1818, 
which  swept  away  some  ancient  abuses  and  brought  about 
in  time  a  nearly  equal  balance  of  the  two  political  parties 
in  the  State.  Henceforth  town  and  city  meetings  bestowed 
little  attention  on  general  politics,  except  in  the  annual 
elections. 

Under  the  new  Constitution,  the  sessions  of  the  Legis- 
lature became  annual  and  were  held  in  Hartford  and  New 
Haven  alternately.  On  May  31,  1820,  New  Haven  Green 
for  the  first  time  in  its  history  beheld  the  annual  pageant 
known  as  the  "election  parade,"  when  the  Governor  is 
inaugurated  with  civil  and  military  display  at  the  opening 
of  the  Legislature.  An  election  sermon  was  then  an 
invariable  feature,  and  on  this  occasion  it  was  preached  in 
the  North  Church.  These  election  parades  have  now,  so 
far  as  New  Haven  is  concerned,  passed  into  ancient  history, 
and  the  Green,  to  which  they  were  for  two  generations 
familiar,  knows  them  no  more.  The  last  of  them  and  the 
last  session  of  the  Legislature  in  New  Haven  took  place  in 
1874.  Whatever  disadvantage  the  loss  of  the  General 
Assembly  has  been  to  the  Green  in  other  respects,  it  has 


AS    A    POLITICAL    AND    CIVIC    FORUM.  71 

not  impaired  the  freshness  and  fragrance  of  its  political  or 
moral  atmosphere. 

After  1820,  the  city  turned  its  attention  to  public 
improvements  and  found  in  the  Farmington  Canal  a  sub- 
ject for  abundant  contemplation.  Numerous  meetings 
relating  to  it  were  held  through  a  quarter  of  a  century  to 
consider  successively  how  to  get  into  the  enterprise,  how 
to  maintain  it,  and  how  to  get  out — all  of  which  problems 
were  finally  solved  at  a  loss  to  the  people  of  New  Haven 
of  over  $1,000,000.  Since  that  experience  both  town  and 
city  have  been  somewhat  conservative  with  regard  to 
investments  in  public  enterprises.  Nevertheless  in  1853, 
a  city  meeting  held  on  the  Green  voted  to  construct 
municipal  water  works,  a  measure  which  evoked  violent 
opposition,  and  led  to  other  and  tumultuous  city  meetings, 
by  which  the  project  was  finally  defeated.  The  excitement 
at  the  last  one  was  great.  As  the  crowd  could  not  be 
accommodated  in  the  State  House,  the  meeting  adjourned 
to  the  open  air,  where  the  leader  of  the  opposition  mounted 
a  tree  for  a  better  survey  of  the  situation,  and  addressed 
the  moderator  from  its  topmost  branches. 

The  Temperance  Movement. 

While  the  city  was  thus  agitated  by  the  subject  of  water, 
the  town  was  undergoing  the  throes  of  a  controversy 
between  the  same  fluid  and  certain  exhilerating  rivals  of  an 
alcoholic  nature.  The  temperance  reform  took  organized 
shape  about  1840  in  Washingtonian  and  Martha  Wash- 
ington societies.  These  associations  for  several  years 
made  frequent  public  demonstrations  on  the  Green,  with 
large  and  enthusiastic  processions,  often  with  delegations 
from  neighboring  towns.  There  were  music  and  banners 
and  vehicles  bearing  awful  examples  of  the  drink  habit,  in 
striking  contrast  with  beautiful  young  ladies  who  wore 
badges  inscribed  with  the  blood-curdling  motto,  "Tee  total 
or  no  husband."  Moral  suasion,  however,  even  though 


72  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

enforced  by  such  rigorous  alternatives,  failed  to  destroy  the 
liquor  traffic,  and  temperance  soon  became  a  political  issue. 
In  1854  the  so-called  "Maine  law"  was  passed.  By  this 
enactment  the  sale  of  liquor  by  private  parties  was  for- 
bidden, and  was  entrusted  to  the  towns  alone.  Each  town 
was  empowered  to  appoint  an  agent  for  the  purpose,  and 
sales  were  to  be  made  for  medicinal,  chemical  and  sacra- 
mental uses  only,  the  agent  to  keep  a  record  of  every  sale 
with  the  name  of  the  purchaser  and  the  purpose  of  the 
purchase.  The  law  was  appointed  to  take  effect  August 
ist,  1854,  and  in  preparation  for  the  period  of  thirst  that 
seemed  likely  to  ensue  thereafter,  all  prudent  persons  pro- 
ceeded to  lay  in  abundant  stores  of  stimulating  beverages, 
so  that  for  several  weeks  the  liquor  traffic  assumed  enor- 
mous proportions.  As  the  dreaded  day  approached  every 
vehicle  in  town,  from  wheelbarrows  to  hackney  coaches, 
seemed  to  be  engaged  in  the  transportation  of  liquid 
refreshment  in  every  form  of  receptacle,  and  even  the  most 
reputable  temperance  advocates  were  sometimes  seen  with 
lumps  in  their  garments  which  they  were  careful  to  protect 
from  contact  with  stone  posts  and  other  hard  obstacles. 
Four  several  times  in  August  and  September  vast  and 
turbulent  crowds  assembled  at  the  State  House  in  town 
meeting  to  vote  on  the  establishment  of  a  town  agency,  or 
as  its  deriders  called  it,  "A  Maine  law  grog  shop."  After 
three  defeats  the  supporters  of  the  law  carried  the  day  by 
a  small  majority  in  an  enormous  vote.  The  agency  was 
established  and  continued  to  make  sales  until  March,  1857, 
when  it  ceased  to  do  business.  The  medicinal  column  of 
its  records  during  these  three  years  would  seem  to  indicate 
an  unusually  sickly  period  in  New  Haven,  which,  however, 
is  not  confirmed  by  medical  statistics.  Toward  the  end  its 
sales  rapidly  declined,  as  invalids  found  no  difficulty  in 
procuring  their  medicine  where  no  record  was  required 
and  where,  as  they  generally  claimed,  its  quality  was  more 
remedial  than  that  of  the  town  agency's  article.  The  law 
was  not  repealed  for  many  years,  but  it  remained  a 


AS   A   POLITICAL   AND    CIVIC   FORUM.  73 

dead  letter  on  the  statute  book,  an  object  lesson,  like  so 
many  others  before  and  since,  to  show  that  while  the  com- 
munity may  be  strongly  in  favor  of  a  law  it  may  also  be 
generally  opposed  to  its  enforcement. 


Public  Receptions. 

Returning  to  1824,  the  most  conspicuous  event  in  that 
year  with  which  the  Green  is  associated  was  the  reception 
of  General  Lafayette.  On  that  occasion  New  Haven  out- 
did itself  in  the  enthusiasm  and  brillancy  of  its  welcome. 
The  General  had  visited  the  town  in  1778,  and  it  is  needless 
to  say  he  now  declared  himself  astonished  at  its  improve- 
ment. Like  the  Queen  of  Sheba  when  she  visited  Solomon, 
he  was  shown  all  the  treasures  and  glory  of  the  city.  He 
was  profoundly  impressed  with  the  martial  bearing  of  the 
Horse  Guards,  whom  he  reviewed  on  the  Green;  and  when 
he  had  inspected  the  College  cabinet  and  viewed  the 
College  library,  which  was  kept  over  a  loft  in  the  old 
chapel,  and  had  seen  the  new  cemetery  then  recently 
inclosed  by  a  picket  fence,  there  was  no  more  spirit  in  him. 

Another  visit  of  importance  was  that  of  President 
Jackson  in  1833.  He  was  just  then  more  generally  popular 
in  New  Haven  than  at  a  later  period  on  account  of  his 
recent  stand  against  nullification.  He  arrived  on  Saturday, 
and  Sunday  being  a  day  of  rest,  his  repose  was  provided 
for  by  conducting  him  to  three  religious  services  during 
the  day.  Trinity  was  taken  in  the  morning,  the  North 
Church  early  in  the  afternoon  and  the  Methodist  immedi- 
ately after;  the  service  in  the  latter  church,  we  are  told,  had 
been  prolonged  so  that  the  President  might  arrive  before  its 
close.  Needless  to  say,  the  sermon  was  not  addressed  to 
the  children  in  the  galleries.  It  was  charged  by  some 
political  enemies  that  Mr.  Van  Buren,  who  was  of  the 
Presidential  party,  was  profanely  restless  under  these 


74  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

copious  droppings  of  the  sanctuary,  but  the  heroic  fortitude 
of  Old  Hickory  was  not  called  in  question.* 

The  visits  of  later  Presidents  may  be  briefly  referred 
to;  that  of  President  Polk  in  1847,  and  that  of  President 
Buchanan  in  1858.  On  both  these  occasions  the  principal 
ceremonies  took  place  on  the  south  portico  of  the  State 
House,  an  admirable  site  for  public  receptions,  for  which 
a  suitable  substitute  on  the  Green  is  as  much  a  municipal 
necessity  as  is  a  good  landing  place  on  our  water  front. 
It  was  on  this  same  portico  that  Kossuth  was  received, 
April  23,  1852,  by  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  enthusiastic 
multitudes  ever  assembled  on  the  Green  for  a  similar 
occasion.  Bells  rang,  cannons  were  fired,  and  a  military 
escort  with  a  great  procession,  including  all  the  civil  func- 
tionaries, accompanied  the  illustrious  visitor  from  the  rail- 
road station  to  the  State  House  steps.  There  he  was 
formally  welcomed  by  the  honorable  Mayor  in  a  burst  of 
eloquence  which  left  the  great  orator  but  little  chance  to 
distinguish  himself.  The  mission  of  Kossuth  failed  to 
relieve  Hungary  from  Austrian  oppression,  but  it  conferred 
an  inestimable  benefit  on  this  country  by  releasing  it  from 
bondage  to  the  stove  pipe  hat.  In  imitation  of  our 
example  the  same  tyrant  is  fast  being  dethroned  abroad, 
and  thus  in  one  important  particular  the  great  Hungarian 
promoted  the  object  which  he  so  eloquently  advocated — 
the  solidarity  of  the  nations. 

Political  Conventions  on  the  Green. 

After  1820,  as  already  remarked,  political  discussions 
were  banished  from  town  and  city  meetings  and  relegated 
to  partisan  assemblages.  Of  such  assemblages  the  Green 
has  ever  since  been  a  favorite  gathering  place.  During 
the  administrations  of  Jackson  and  Van  Buren  they  took 
the  form  of  political  processions,  generally  followed  by  a 
banquet  in  the  State  House.  In  the  campaign  of  1840, 

*See  Note  5. 


AS   A   POLITICAL   AND    CIVIC   FORUM.  75 

known  as  the  Log  Cabin  and  Hard  Cider  campaign,  they 
expanded  into  mass  conventions  of  county  or  state.  On 
the  appointed  day  delegations  from  other  towns  arrived  in 
long  cavalcades  of  gaily-decorated  carts  loaded  with  men, 
women  and  children,  banners  and  cider  barrels,  log  cabins 
and  coons.  These  assembled  on  the  Green  and  then 
paraded  the  streets,  lustily  singing  campaign  songs 
extremely  laudatory  of  "Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too,"  and 
highly  derisive  of  "Van,  Van,"  who  was  declared  to  be  "a 
used-up  man."  Such  indeed  proved  to  be  the  case  when 
the  votes  were  counted,  but  the  death  of  Harrison  and  the 
defection  of  Tyler  "blasted  the  counsels  of  the  brave  in 
their  hour  of  might,"  and  in  1844  it  became  necessary  for 
the  Whigs  to  fight  the  battle  over  again  with  Henry  Clay 
as  their  candidate.  Their  enthusiasm  was  unbounded,  but 
their  opponents  were  better  organized  than  in  1840  and 
there  was  a  more  equal  use  of  the  Green  by  the  two  parties 
as  the  arena  for  their  respective  assemblages  and  oratorical 
displays.  Then  followed  the  Mexican  war  and  next  the 
prolonged  and  exciting  agitation  over  slavery  in  the  terri- 
tories, the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  the  compromise  measures, 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise,  and  finally  the 
struggle  between  freedom  and  slavery  for  the  possession 
of  Kansas.  Through  this  eventful  period  there  was  no 
place  where  the  fires  of  political  discussion  blazed  more 
frequently  or  more  fiercely  than  on  the  Green.  At  Fourth 
of  July  celebrations,  and  during  election  campaigns,  open- 
air  meetings  were  held  there  and  excited  crowds  heard 
harangues  in  behalf  of  Free  Soil  and  Bleeding  Kansas,  or 
appeals  to  save  the  Union  by  conceding  the  demands  of 
slavery;  and  as  to  the  pulpits  on  the  Green  and  their  utter- 
ances when  such  tremendous  moral  issues  were  at  stake,  it 
is  enough  to  say  that  one  of  them  was  occupied  by  Samuel 
Button  and  another  by  Leonard  Bacon. 

In  March,  1856,  occurred  the  famous  Kansas  Rifle  meet- 
ing in  the  North  Church.  It  was  begun  as  a  semi-religious 
service  held  on  a  week-day  evening  to  bid  farewell  to  a 


76  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

band  of  citizens  who  were  about  going  to  Kansas  as 
settlers  in  the  interest  of  freedom.  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
addressed  them  and  there  was  not  a  thought  of  presenting 
them  with  arms  until  it  was  spontaneously  suggested  by 
that  noble  embodiment  of  every  personal  and  civic  virtue, 
Prof.  Silliman  senior.  The  rifles  never  did  much  damage 
directly  to  the  Border  Ruffians,  bnt  the  fame  of  the  event 
spread  throughout  the  country.  The  hint  was  taken  and 
the  example  followed  by  every  emigrant  aid  society  which 
sent  out  its  party  thereafter,  with  the  result  that  Kansas  was 
saved  and  formed  an  outpost  of  the  utmost  importance  in 
the  war  for  the  Union. 

The  story  of  the  two  presidential  contests  of  1856  and 
1860  is  familiar  history.  It  hardly  need  be  said  that  the 
Green  was  the  center  of  the  political  turmoil  in  New  Haven, 
the  field  of  numberless  gatherings  of  the  contending  parties, 
and  illuminated  night  after  night  by  torch-light  processions, 
then  a  new  feature  in  election  campaigns,  premonitors  of 
the  armed  hosts  which  those  electoral  struggles  engendered. 
On  November  7,  1860,  the  roar  of  cannons  on  the  Green 
announced  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  elected.  On  Satur- 
day, April  13,  1 86 1,  came  news  of  the  capture  of  Fort 
Sumter  and  with  it  the  President's  call  to  arms.  At  that 
signal  all  political  questions  melted  into  one — "Shall  the 
nation  perish?"  a  question  to  be  solved  not  by  discussion, 
but  by  the  clash  of  arms.  As  the  curtain  descends  on  this 
retrospect  of  the  Green  as  a  political  and  civic  forum,  we 
catch  a  glimpse  beneath  it  of  long  lines  of  men  marching 
upon  the  stage  by  companies  from  every  town  and  village, 
from  every  hillside  and  valley  in  the  Old  Commonwealth. 
To-day  they  are  farmers,  mechanics,  clerks  and  business 
men.  To-morrow  they  will  be  soldiers;  actors  in  the 
mighty  drama  of  tragedy  which  is  about  to  open. 


NOTES  TO  PAPER  No.  II. 


NOTE  i  (page  46). 

Different  forms  of  "Quinnipiac"  found  in  the  records  and  contem- 
poraneous documents:  Querepees,  Quiripeys,  Quiripegs,  Quillipeg, 
Quillipiage,  Quilipiage,  Quillepiage,  Quellipiack,  Quinepeag,  Quilli- 
peck,  Quillipiock,  Quillipiack,  Quillipyack,  Quillypiack,  Quillipiake, 
Quillipieck,  Quillipioak,  Quillipiogue,  Queenapiok,  Quinepieck,  Quini- 
pieck,  Quinopiocke,  Quinnopyocke,  Quinnypiacke,  Quinnipiocke, 
Quinnypiock,  Quinypiock,  Quinnepyoogh,  Quinnipagee,  Quinnipeauke, 
Quinnipyack,  Quinnipiack. 


NOTE  2  (page  63). 

The  Connecticut  Journal  of  July  10,  1776,  printed  at  New  Haven,  says 
under  the  heading  "Philadelphia":  "Yesterday  the  Congress  unani- 
mously resolved  to  declare  the  United  Colonies  Free  and  Independent 
States."  In  another  column  it  announces:  "To-morrow  will  be  ready 
for  sale  the  Resolution  of  the  Congress  declaring  the  United  Colonies 
Free  and  Independent  States."  No  other  reference  to  the  subject 
appears  in  that  issue  of  the  paper.  Mr.  Hoadly,  State  Librarian,  thinks 
that  the  principal  demonstration  connected  with  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  so  far  as  Connecticut  was  concerned,  was  possibly  the 
reading  of  the  declaration  in  the  churches. 


NOTE  3  (page  66). 

When  the  City  Government  was  organized,  Mr.  Sherman  was  at 
Annapolis  in  attendance  on  Congress,  of  which  he  was  a  member.  In 
Boutelle's  Life  of  Sherman  a  letter  is  given  written  to  him  from  New 
Haven,  February  II,  1784,  by  Benj.  Huntington,  who  says:  "The 
freemen  of  the  city  of  New  Haven  are  now  in  the  upper  house  of  the 
State  House  choosing  their  city  magistrates  and  have  made  choice  of 
a  Member  of  Congress  for  the  Mayor;  and  Deacon  Howell,  Deacon 
Bishop,  Deacon  Austin  and  Mr.  Isaac  Beers  are  chosen  Aldermen.  .  . 
Mrs.  Sherman  received  some  addresses  on  the  subject  of  the  election 
and  by  way  of  answer  has  fed  some  hungry  bellies  whilst  others  wanted 
powder  to  fire  in  honor  of  the  Lord  Mayor  Elect.  The  cannons  are  at 
this  moment  firing  in  a  most  tremendous  manner  on  the  subject." 


78  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN   GREEN. 

NOTE  4  (page  66). 

No  mention  of  any  case  in  which  the  freedom  of  the  city  was  con- 
ferred appears  in  the  city  records  after  this  second  instance,  but  in 
Boutelle's  Life  of  Sherman  it  is  stated  that  it  was  conferred  on  John 
Adams  as  he  passed  through  New  Haven  in  April,  1789,  to  attend  the 
inauguration  of  President  Washington.  The  letter  from  Acting  Mayor 
Pierpont  Edwards  enclosing  the  diploma  is  also  printed,  and  an  effu- 
sively grateful  reply  from  Mr.  Adams,  in  which  he  speaks  of  the  honor 
as  "the  most  endearing  compliment  I  ever  received." 

NOTE  5  (page  74). 

Old  Hickory's  fortitude  was  quite  as  strongly  tested  next  day  by  the 
excessive  hospitality  of  his  entertainers,  as  appears  by  the  following 
extract  from  one  of  the  local  papers :  "At  an  early  hour  in  the  morning 
he  was  aroused  from  his  slumbers  at  the  Tontine  Hotel  and  conveyed 
to  the  carriage  factory  of  the  Messrs.  Brewster  at  the  foot  of  Wooster 
street,  which  he  inspected.  He  was  then  taken  to  the  ax  factory  in 
the  same  vicinity  and  showed  through  the  works,  where  he  was  cheered 
by  the  workmen  and  evidently  gratified  by  the  hasty  view  which  his 
limited  time  permitted.  He  returned  to  the  Tontine  to  breakfast 
immediately,  after  which  at  half-past  six  he  departed  for  Hartford." 


III. 

THE  GREEN  AS  A  RELIGIOUS  AND  ECCLESIASTICAL 
ARENA. 

When  the  company  of  New  Haven  colonists  left  England, 
their  main  purpose  was  (in  the  words  of  Mr.  Davenport) 
"to  found  a  plantation  whose  design  was  religion."  This 
being  so,  it  seems,  at  first  view,  somewhat  singular  that 
more  than  a  year  elapsed  after  their  landing  at  New  Haven 
before  they  took  the  first  step  toward  church  organization 
and  a  year  and  a  half  before  the  organization  was  com- 
pleted. The  principal  cause  of  the  delay  is  supposed  to 
have  been  a  difference  of  opinion  between  one  portion  of 
the  company  headed  by  Mr.  Davenport,  and  another  por- 
tion represented  by  his  brother  minister,  Samuel  Eaton, 
as  to  the  propriety  and  policy  of  confining  political  power 
and  privilege  to  church  members.  It  would  appear  that 
for  a  year  at  least  this  subject  was  under  discussion  between 
these  two  leaders  and  probably  also  among  the  people  at 
large,  and  it  was  doubtless  through  the  influence  of  Mr. 
Davenport  himself  that  both  the  formation  of  the  church 
and  the  organization  of  the  state  were  delayed  until  he 
could  feel  sure  of  carrying  through  his  scheme  of  pietistic 
government.  This  he  accomplished  June  4,  1639,  at  the 
meeting  in  Mr.  Newman's  barn,  Samuel  Eaton  alone 
opposing  and  he  but  feebly.  Twelve  men  were  selected  by 
that  meeting,  presumably  on  account  of  their  preeminence 
in  saintliness  of  character,  and  these  were  instructed  to  sift 
out  the  seven  of  their  own  number  who  were  most  worthy 
to  form  the  nucleus  of  the  church,  and  to  admit  such  others 
into  it  as  they  should  find  qualified  for  membership.  It 
was  also  provided  that  the  body  of  church  members  thus 
constituted  and  their  successors  should  compose  the  state, 
and  as  such  be  the  repository  and  source  of  all  civil  and 
political  authority. 


80  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

The  selection  of  the  apostolic  twelve  was  not  effected 
with  entire  serenity.  When  their  names  were  called,  a 
person  present,  perhaps  a  disappointed  candidate,  accused 
one  of  them  with  "having  charged  an  excessive  rate  for 
meal  to  one  of  Poquonnock  in  his  need."  The  inculpated 
brother  admitted  the  fact  with  grief,  but  explained  that  he 
had  made  reasonable  restitution.  At  the  present  day  in 
New  York  or  Brooklyn,  the  fact  that  a  church  elder  had 
made  a  corner  in  wheat  would  not  in  the  least  disqualify 
him  for  churchly  honors.  But  the  company  in  Mr. 
Newman's  barn  expected  to  be  buyers  of  grain  for  the 
most  part  and  were  not  disposed  to  tolerate  conduct  by 
which  they  might  be  caught  short  in  the  market.  The  plea 
in  mitigation  was  promptly  set  aside  and  the  speculator's 
name  must  have  been  striken  out,  for  the  list,  as  given  in 
the  record,  numbers  only  eleven.  Subsequent  developments 
showed  that  it  might  well  have  been  made  still  shorter,  for 
one  of  the  chosen  eleven,  who  became  also  one  of  the  seven 
pillars  of  the  church,  was  at  a  later  date  excommunicated 
for  fraudulently  falsifying  the  public  records.  From  all 
which  it  appears  that  human  nature  even  in  New  Haven 
furnishes  a  somewhat  insecure  foundation  for  the  walls  of 
a  heavenly  city. 

The  preliminary  organization  of  the  church  by  the 
seven  pillars  took  place  August  22,  1639,  but  its 
membership  was  not  completed  until  two  months 
later.  As  no  meeting-house  was  erected  till  1640, 
the  question  arises,  where,  during  the  two  years  before 
its  completion,  the  people  were  accustomed  to  assemble 
for  united  religious  worship.  We  have  no  account 
of  any  such  general  assemblage  except  the  one  under  the 
oak  tree  the  day  after  the  landing,  and  it  is  not  certain  that 
any  was  held.  "Neighborhood  meetings"  during  this  period 
are  referred  to  in  the  record  and  if  there  were  others  more 
general  they  were  perhaps  only  occasional,  and  held  in  some 
large  barn  or  in  the  open  air.  Cotton  Mather  says  that  the 
church  was  organized  in  Mr.  Newman's  barn.  Dr.  Bacon, 


RELIGIOUS   AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   ARENA.  81 

on  the  other  hand,  gives  it  as  local  tradition  that  it  was 
organized  "under  the  same  broad  oak  under  which  they 
had  kept  their  first  Sabbath."  Such  gatherings  might  be 
practicable  in  August,  but  during  the  winter  months  meet- 
ings must  have  been  held  under  shelter.  It  illustrates  the 
unreliability  of  even  contemporaneous  authority  in  his- 
torical matters,  that  the  Dutch  traveller,  De  Vries,  in  his 
journal  under  date  of  June  5,  1639,  speaks  of  reaching 
"Redmont"  (i.  e.,  New  Haven)  harbor  on  that  day  and  adds: 
"The  English  are  building  a  fine  town  there,  having  already 
erected  upwards  of  three  hundred  houses  and  a  fine  church." 
June  5,  1639,  was  the  day  after  the  first  meeting  in  Mr. 
Newman's  barn,  and  probably  the  Dutchman  received 
information  from  some  West  Haven  clam  digger  of  the 
new  church  which  had  been  founded  with  its  seven  pillars, 
and  from  it  conjured  up  the  mental  vision  of  quite  a  magnifi- 
cent edifice. 

The  First  Meeting-house. 

The  first  church  edifice,  which  stood  in  the  center  of  the 
Square,  was  in  fact  a  small  and  rude  structure.  It  was  fifty 
feet  square,  built  of  green  timber,  with  rough  planks  and 
without  a  stone  foundation.  It  was  commenced  soon  after 
November  25,  1639,  and  was  completed  in  the  following 
summer,  and  in  less  than  four  years  had  become  so  leaky 
and  in  such  bad  condition  that  the  builders  were  called  to 
account  for  their  bad  work  and  required  to  repair  it.  From 
that  time  on  until  1668  it  was  in  constant  danger  of  falling 
on  the  heads  of  the  congregation.  In  that  year  a  new 
meeting-house  was  ordered.  It  was  ready  in  1670  and  the 
old  building  was  then  "sold  to  the  town's  best  advantage." 

If  there  had  been  any  irregularity  or  freedom  about 
attendance  on  public  worship  up  to  the  time  when  the 
first  meeting-house  was  ready  for  occupancy,  it  is  certain 
that  none  was  permitted  afterwards.  Every  adult  person 
had  his  or  her  assigned  seat  in  the  building,  so  that  absence 
6 


82  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

was  sure  to  be  observed,  and  a  rigid  inquiry  by  the  magis- 
trates into  the  cause  inevitably  followed.  At  the  sound  of 
the  second  drum  the  people  issued  from  their  dwellings 
by  families,  the  parents  in  front  and  the  children  and 
servants  following,  a  custom  which  was  kept  up  at  late  as 
the  revolutionary  war.  On  arriving  at  the  meeting-house 
door,  the  men  were  placed  on  one  side  of  the  house  and  the 
women  on  the  other.  The  "soldiers"  were  placed  near 
the  door  and  a  sentry  was  left  outside.  "The  children  and 
young  people,"  says  Dr.  Bacon,  "seem  to  have  been  left 
to  find  their  own  places;"  and  he  adds,  "it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,  so  long  as  this  practice  continued,  that  the 
regulation  of  boys  in  the  meeting-house  formed  a  frequent 
subject  of  discussion."  It  would  have  been  strange  indeed 
and  highly  discreditable  to  the  boys  if  they  had  not  become 
restive  during  the  long  sermons  in  the  dark  little  meeting- 
house, especially  in  cold  weather,  after  the  glass  windows 
had  been  taken  out  and  boards  substituted,  as  was  done 
in  1651,  and  they  seem  to  have  done  their  best  to  enliven 
the  proceedings,  in  all  seasons.  In  1660,  "on  account  of 
great  disorders  amongst  children  in  ye  meeting-house  in 
time  of  divine  worship,"  boys  under  16  were  placed  "in  the 
soldiers  seat"  and  Edward  Parker  was  "to  have  the  over- 
sight of  them,  while  those  who  sat  about  the  stairs  of  ye 
pulpit  were  "to  be  looked  after  by  Brothers  Hull  and 
Beaman."  In  1674  the  townsmen  were  directed  "to  pro- 
vide some  suitable  seats  for  ye  boys  in  ye  meeting-house 
and  Wm.  Payne  was  desired  to  look  after  ye  boys  before 
ye  first  seats  and  in  ye  Deacons'  seats."  In  1678  they  had 
become  so  obstreperous  in  the  gallery  that  the  town  ordered 
"William  Payne  and  Samuel  Hemingway  to  take  a  stick  or 
wand  and  smite  such  as  are  of  uncomely  behavior  in  ye 
meeting  and  acquaint  their  parents."  The  office  of  "tithing- 
men"  originated  in  these  enactments,  and  they  continued 
to  be  elected  as  town  officials  for  each  house  of  worship 
till  1865.  They  had  then  reached  the  number  of  125,  and 
after  that  year  their  appointment  was  left  to  the  several 
ecclesiastical  societies. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    ECCLESIASTICAL    ARENA.  83 

Mr.  Davenport  and  his  Successors. 

Mr.  Davenport  is  often  spoken  of  as  the  minister  of  the 
New  Haven  Colony  when  it  arrived  in  New  Haven,  but 
this  is  true  only  in  the  sense  that  he  was  its  most  prominent 
religious  teacher.  It  was  not  until  after  the  church  was 
organized  in  August,  1639,  that  he  was  chosen  and  ordained 
its  pastor.  In  1644,  William  Hooke  was  installed  "teacher" 
or  "assistant  pastor"  of  the  church.  Mr.  Hooke  returned 
to  England  in  1656,  when  Cromwell,  who  was  a  kinsman 
of  his  wife,  was  in  the  height  of  his  power,  and  became  his 
private  chaplain,  and  in  that  capacity  he  must  often  have 
preached  to  John  Milton,  who  was  also  attached  to  the 
Lord  Protector's  household.  Mr.  Hooke  was  a  brother- 
in-law  of  Edward  Whalley,  one  of  the  regicide  judges,  and 
it  is  probable  that  Whalley  came  to  New  Haven  by  his 
advice,  in  1661,  and  doubtless  brought  messages  of  recom- 
mendation to  Mr.  Davenport  from  his  former  colleague. 

After  Mr.  Hooke's  departure  for  England,  Nicholas 
Street  was  chosen  to  supply  his  place,  and  when  Mr. 
Davenport  removed  to  Boston  in  1668,  Mr.  Street  became 
his  successor.  He  held  the  office  of  pastor  until  his  death 
in  1674,  being,  as  his  memorial  tablet  records,  "the  first 
pastor  who  died  in  the  service  of  the  church." 

The  removal  of  Mr.  Davenport  from  New  Haven  in  1668 
was  occasioned  by  the  union  of  New  Haven  with  Con- 
necticut against  his  protest  and  the  consequent  fall  of  the 
ecclesiastical  system  of  government  which  he  had  founded. 
The  church  parted  with  him  with  great  reluctance,  refusing 
to  dismiss  him,  and  only  saying  that  if  he  was  determined 
to  go  they  would  not  oppose  his  wishes.  Thirty  years 
had  now  elapsed  since  the  first  settlers  landed.  Gov.  Eaton 
and  many,  if  not  most,  of  those  who  had  been  their  leaders, 
were  gone,  and  the  effect  of  church  membership  govern- 
ment had  been  to  alienate  the  affections  and  lower  the 
respect  for  it  of  all  who  were  excluded  from  its  privileges. 
The  influence  of  these  changed  relations  had  affected  the 


84  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

church  itself.  During  the  first  few  years  the  ministers  had 
been  cheerfully  supported  by  voluntary  contribution,  but 
even  before  Mr.  Davenport  left,  the  collections  had  begun 
to  fall  off  both  in  quantity  and  quality.  In  1650  the  deacons 
complained  to  the  General  Court  that  "the  wampum  which 
is  put  into  the  church  treasury  is  generally  so  bad  that 
the  ministers  cannot  pay  it  away."  Evidently  it  was  not  so 
convenient  in  this  respect  as  the  doubtful  bank  bills  which 
are  now  occasionally  cast  by  cheerful  givers  into  the  con- 
tribution box.  In  1651  the  trouble  had  increased  and  the 
contributions  diminished,  and  the  Court  ordered  that  "no 
planter  shall  give  anything  on  the  Lord's  day  but  silver  or 
bills.  And,  whereas,  it  is  taken  notice  that  divers  give  not 
into  the  treasury  at  all  on  the  Lord's  day,  all  such,  if  they 
give  not  freely  of  themselves,  shall  be  rated  for  the  minister's 
maintainance."  But  threats  proved  as  ineffectual  as  princi- 
ple to  raise  money,  where  no  money  existed,  and  in  March, 
1677,  the  ministers  had  been  reduced  to  such  necessity  that 
the  town  voted  to  lay  a  tax  for  their  support  on  all  the 
inhabitants.  Thus  the  church  shifted  the  burden  of  main- 
taining religious  worship  from  itself  upon  the  people  at 
large  and  these  continued  to  carry  it  for  one  hundred  and 
forty  years,  until  the  present  constitution  of  Connecticut 
was  adopted.  The  effect  of  this  change  was  to  secularize 
the  church.  Taxation  and  representation  cannot  long  be 
dissociated.  If  the  general  public  are  compelled  to  support 
religious  institutions  the  general  public  must  be  admitted  to 
share  in  ecclesiastical  rights  and  privileges,  and  thus  was 
introduced  into  New  Haven  the  practice  which  was  known 
throughout  New  England  as  the  Half-way  Covenant. 

The  Half-way  Covenant. 

The  Half-way  Covenant  had  prevailed  in  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut  long  before  it  obtained  a  foothold  in  New 
Haven.  It  originated  in  Boston,  where,  as  here,  in  the 
beginning  church  membership  was  the  qualification  for 


RELIGIOUS   AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   ARENA.  85 

political  rights.  The  consequence  had  been,  that  as  early 
as  1670,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  popular  demand  for  a  wider 
franchise,  it  had  been  determined,  against  great  opposition, 
in  which  Mr.  Davenport,  after  his  departure  from  New 
Haven,  took  part,  to  open  the  church  doors  for  a  more 
general  membership.  To  accomplish  this  the  rule  had 
been  adopted  to  recognize  all  baptized  persons  of  good 
moral  character  as  nominally  church  members,  but  without 
admitting  them  to  full  communion.  Although  the  politi- 
cal necessity  for  the  Half-way  Covenant  did  not  exist  in  all 
parts  of  New  England  and  especially  in  those  parts  under 
the  Connecticut  charter,  yet  it  had  become  generally  prev- 
alent everywhere  before  it  reached  New  Haven  and  its 
associated  churches.  Here,  where  the  influence  of  Mr. 
Davenport  and  the  early  fathers  was  still  potent,  the  opposi- 
tion to  it  was  vigorous,  and  a  controversy  was  soon  under 
way,  characterized  on  both  sides  by  the  vivacity  which  is 
usual  when  matters  of  religious  difference  are  under 
discussion.  In  fact  in  1678  the  strife  had  waxed  so  hot  that 
by  common  consent  a  council  of  neighboring  churches  was 
called  in  for  advice  how  to  assuage  it.  The  council  met 
and  after  due  consideration  recommended  a  season  of 
prayer  and  fasting  as  the  most  likely  way  to  promote  a 
general  cheerfulness  and  good  humor.  The  advice  was 
adopted.  The  combatants  assembled  in  the  meeting-house; 
each  party  contritely  confessed  the  other's  envy,  malice  and 
all  uncharitableness  and  prayed  that  it  might  have  more 
grace  and  brotherly  love,  and  then  both  sides,  refreshed  and 
invigorated,  returned  to  the  fray  with  more  unction  than 
ever. 

The  logic  of  the  situation,  however,  after  public  taxation 
had  been  resorted  to  for  the  support  of  the  church,  rendered 
the  acceptance  of  the  Half-way  Covenant  inevitable  here 
as  elsewhere,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  New  Haven 
church  fell  into  line  with  all  the  rest.  The  practice,  which 
continued  until  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century, 
was  not  only  judicious  from  a  political  point  of  view,  but  its 


86  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN   GREEN. 

effect  was  to  preserve  the  hold  of  the  church  upon  the 
interest  and  morals  of  the  people.  It  thus  doubtless 
greatly  promoted  that  general  and  regular  attendance  on 
religious  worship  which  characterized  the  New  England 
population  of  one  hundred  years  ago,  and  which  has  pro- 
gressively diminished  since  it  was  abrogated.  It  was  more- 
over in  accordance  with  the  theory  and  usages  of  most 
Christian  communions  not  having  a  Puritan  origin,  and  it 
would  not  be  surprising  if  at  some  future  day  a  demand 
should  arise  for  its  restoration.  The  adoption  of  the  Half- 
way Covenant  was  but  one  indication  of  a  great  reaction 
which  had  now  set  in  from  the  extreme  austerity  and 
religious  tension  of  the  previous  generation,  and  of  a 
decline  in  faith  and  morals  which  had  already  commenced. 
Such  a  declension  usually  occurs  in  the  second  or  third 
generation  of  a  new  country,  as  the  fathers,  emigrants  from 
civilization,  disappear,  and  the  children,  wilderness-born 
and  bred,  assume  the  stage  of  action;  and  in  this  case 
several  special  causes  had  contributed  their  influence. 
First  was  King  Philip's  war,  lasting  from  1675  to  1678,  a 
period  the  most  anxious  and  distressing  that  New  England 
ever  experienced.  Then  followed  the  Government  of 
Andross  with  the  temporary  loss  of  the  Connecticut  charter 
and  the  subsequent  efforts  of  the  British  Crown  to  abrogate 
that  instrument,  which  continued  even  after  the  reign  of 
William  and  Mary.  Added  to  these  were  the  evils  of  a 
depreciated  and  fluctuating  currency,  which  in  the  extreme 
poverty  of  the  people  was  sorely  felt.  "All  these  causes," 
says  Dr.  Bacon,  "had  a  disastrous  effect  not  only  on  business 
and  general  prosperity,  but  on  morals  and  against  the  influ- 
ence of  religion." 

Mr.  Pierpont's  Ministry. 

Another  and  a  local  cause  for  religious  and  moral  declen- 
sion, so  far  as  respected  New  Haven,  existed  in  the  fact 
that  for  nearly  ten  years  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Street,  that 


RELIGIOUS    AND    ECCLESIASTICAL    ARENA.  87 

is  to  say  from  1674  to  1684,  the  town  had  no  regular  settled 
minister.  Occasional  temporary  supplies  of  the  pulpit 
were  obtained  but  the  service  was  not  satisfactory,  though 
it  was  certainly  as  good  as  the  pay,  which  as  we  have  seen 
was  scanty  and  always  in  arrears.  In  1683  the  town  could 
no  longer  endure  this  religious  destitution  and  determined 
to  secure  a  spiritual  guide  even  if  it  had  to  take  him  out  of 
jail.  Accordingly,  messengers  were  sent  to  extend  a  call 
to  Rev.  Mr.  Moody  of  Portsmouth,  New  Hamphire,  who 
was  then  undergoing  imprisonment  by  the  Royal  Governor 
of  that  Province  for  refusing  to  admit  him  and  some  fellow 
scapegraces  to  the  sacrament.  Mr.  Moody  was  found  in 
Boston,  having  just  been  released  from  prison  and  banished 
from  New  Hampshire  with  strict  injunctions  never  to 
return.  Regarding  such  an  order  as  affording  the  best 
possible  reason  why  he  should  go  back  immediately,  he 
declined  the  call  to  New  Haven,  and  the  messengers,  being 
thus  baffled,  looked  about  for  a  substitute.  This  they  soon 
found  in  the  person  of  Mr.  James  Pierpont,  who,  though 
he  had  never  been  in  jail,  had  just  graduated  from  Harvard 
College,  an  institution  of  learning,  which  stood  better  at 
that  time  than  at  present,  its  reputation  for  football  kicking 
and  other  branches  of  the  higher  education  not  having  then 
been  seriously  impaired.  Accordingly,  the  messengers, 
unwilling  to  go  home  without  having  accomplished  any- 
thing, invited  Mr.  Pierpont  to  come  to  New  Haven  and 
preach  as  a  candidate.  He  accepted  the  proposal,  and  in 
August,  1684,  was  reported  at  the  town  meeting  as  having 
arrived  and  being  lodged  at  the  house  of  the  Widow 
Davenport  "to  his  content."  He  was,  in  fact,  so  much  con- 
tented then  and  afterwards  that  he  subsequently  married 
the  widow's  daughter  Abigail,  who  was  a  granddaughter  of 
Rev.  John  Davenport,  his  predecessor  in  the  ministry.* 

Mr.  Pierpont  preached  acceptably  as  a  candidate  for 
nearly  a  year  and  was  ordained  July  2,  1685.  The  church 
'built  a  house  for  him  on  a  lot  which  was  given  by  the  town, 

*  See  Note  i  at  the  end  of  this  Paper. 


88  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

on  the  north  side  of  the  market  place,  and  a  part  of  this  lot 
is  still  occupied  by  one  of  his  descendants.  As  a  Boston 
man,  Mr.  Pierpont  was  favorable  to  the  Half-way  Covenant, 
and  it  prevailed  in  the  first  church  from  the  time  of  his 
ordination  until  about  the  beginning  of  this  century.  The 
tax  rate  of  2,y2  pence  in  the  pound,  which  was  levied  for  the 
minister's  support,  was  found  to  be  impossible  of  collection 
in  money,  and  its  avails  were  also  fluctuating  in  amount, 
so  that  the  town,  as  a  matter  of  mutual  convenience,  pro- 
posed to  Mr.  Pierpont  in  1697  to  pay  him  thereafter  a  regu- 
lar salary  of  £120  a  year  "in  grane  and  flesh,"  at  certain 
fixed  prices,  and  also  his  firewood.  Mr.  Pierpont  accepted 
the  offer,  "having  heard,"  as  he  said,  "that  it  was  cheerfully 
tendered,"  but  with  a  shrewd  recollection  of  the  bad  wam- 
pum contributions  of  former  days,  he  stipulated  that  "the 
offerings  should  be  brought  to  the  house  of  God  without 
lameness  or  reflections  on  the  ministry  in  the  respective 
years."  As  the  records  show  no  friction  between  pastor 
and  people  during  his  ministry,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that 
there  was  no  lameness  either  in  the  salary  or  the  preaching. 
Mr.  Pierpont  continued  to  be  a  faithful  and  esteemed 
pastor  until  his  death  in  1714,  but  the  period  was  one  of 
religious  and  moral  decadence,  which  the  most  effective 
ministry  could  not  wholly  check.  In  1692,  at  the  request 
of  the  ministers  of  the  colony,  a  town  meeting  directed  the 
authorities  and  heads  of  families  to  take  measures  to  sup- 
port the  prevalent  "horse  racing  and  tavern  tippling"  after 
religious  services  on  lecture  days.  It  must  be  remembered, 
however,  that  lecture  days  were  a  species  of  holiday  on 
which  the  suburban  population  generally  came  to  town  for 
purposes  both  of  devotion  and  festivity,  and  doubtless 
church  attendance  was  largely  promoted  by  the  combina- 
tion. Certain  it  is,  that  notwithstanding  the  lamentations 
so  frequently  encountered  in  the  records,  as  to  the  degree 
in  which  Satan  raged  and  sin  abounded,  the  meeting-house 
was  crowded,  so  that  in  1697  it  was  necessary  to  enlarge 
the  gallery,  and  a  year  later  to  put  an  addition  on  the  main 


THE    SECOND    MEETING   HOUSE   AS   IT    APPEARED    AFTER    I7OO. 
Built  1670 — Removed  1757. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   ARENA.  89 

body  of  the  house.*  In  the  allotment  of  seats  the  practice 
seems  to  have  grown  up  of  giving  the  best  seats  to  the 
highest  taxpayers,  and  the  official  dignitaries  were  in  danger 
of  being  crowded  to  the  wall  by  a  shoddy  aristocracy.  To 
prevent  so  unseemly  a  scandal  without  unduly  curtailing 
the  tax  receipts,  the  town  voted,  in  1701,  that  the  seating 
committee  should  "have  a  principle  Respect  to  Offices, 
Civill  Eclesiastick  and  Military,  and  Rates,  it  being  under- 
stood ye  Rates  to  be  valued  and  no  persons  to  advance  s 
Rates  for  ye  Dignity  of  ye  Seats  in  ye  Meeting  House."f 

The  Saybrook  Platform. 

In  full  accordance  with  the  history  of  the  church  in  all 
ages,  as  spiritual  religion  declined  formalism  became  more 
pronounced,  and  ecclesiasticism  developed.  The  ministers 
found  the  Puritan  doctrine  of  church  isolation  and  inde- 
pendence unfavorable  to  the  dignity  and  influence  of  their 
order  and  began  to  hanker  for  the  flesh  pots  of  organization 
and  clerical  power.  In  pursuance  of  their  request,  in  1708 
the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  ordered  a  synod  of 
churches  convened  at  Saybrook,  which  met  and  adopted 
a  code  of  church  association  and  discipline.  By  this  code, 
known  as  the  Saybrook  platform,  a  system  was  introduced 
so  much  like  the  Presbyterian  order  that  the  churches 
under  it  were  afterwards  frequently  styled  Presbyterian, 
even  by  their  own  clergy.  The  framers  of  the  platform  did 
not  venture  to  force  it  upon  the  churches,  but  through 
their  influence  the  General  Assembly  approved  of  it  and 
recommended  to  the  churches  to  unite  under  its  provisions. 
It  also  enacted  that  those  churches  and  those  only  which 
accepted  the  platform  should  be  recognized  in  law  as 
established  churches,  and  as  such  be  entitled  to  a  share  of 
the  taxes  laid  for  the  support  of  the  ministry.  Those  not 
adopting  it  could  only  acquire  legal  recognition  by  special 
license  of  the  General  Assembly  in  each  case;  while  mem- 

*  See  Note  2.  t  See  Note  3- 


90  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

bers  of  churches  not  so  licensed,  besides  being  obliged  to 
support  their  own  ministers,  were  liable  to  taxation  for  the 
support  of  the  established  churches  in  their  several  towns. 
Thus  was  created  not  only  an  established  church,  but  one 
intolerant  and  repressive  of  all  rivals;  and  at  the  same  time 
the  ministers  of  the  establishment  were  erected  into  a 
clerical  order  in  the  state;  an  order  which  for  more  than 
one  hundred  years  wielded  a  power  and  influence  almost 
supreme  in  the  Commonwealth,  and  exercised  it  too  often 
with  the  display  of  those  faults  which  are  so  generally 
associated  with  ecclesiastical  rule.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  the  Saybrook  Platform  was  established 
as  a  rule  of  order  within  the  Congregational  church  as  the 
only  denomination  actually  existing  in  the  colony  at  that 
time;  and  not  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing  other  sects 
which  had  made  or  might  thereafter  make  their  appearance. 
Permission  was,  in  fact,  given  by  the  law  to  any  church 
"to  soberly  dissent  from  the  united  churches  hereby 
established."  This  provision  was  known  as  "the  Toleration 
Act,"  and  in  1727  the  General  Assembly  went  a  step  further 
and  specially  enacted  that  any  society  of  the  church  of 
England  that  might  be  framed  in  any  town  should  be 
recognized  as  an  established  society.  In  1729  a  similar 
law  was  passed  to  cover  the  case  of  the  Quakers  and 
Baptists.  Neither  of  these  denominations,  however,  had 
any  organized  existence  till  many  years  later,  and  in  the 
meantime  the  "Prime  Ancient  Church,"  as  it  was  legally 
designated,  remained  in  undisputed  occupancy  of  its 
supreme  power  and  prerogative.  Mr.  Pierpont  was  one  of 
the  leaders  in  forming  the  Saybrook  Platform.  He  was 
also  the  most  active  agent  in  effecting  the  foundation  of 
Yale  College.  He  died  November  14,  1714,  aged  55  years, 
much  beloved,  honored  and  lamented. 

Three  years  before  Mr.  Pierpont's  death  East  Haven  had 
been  established  as  a  distinct  parish  and  somewhat  later 
several  other  outlying  parishes  had  been  set  off  as  separate 
ecclesiastical  societies.  Thenceforward  that  in  New  Haven 


RELIGIOUS   AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   ARENA.  91 

was  known  as  "the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society."  The 
records  of  the  First  Society,  as  such,  began  to  be  kept 
distinct  from  the  town  records  July  i,  1715.  At  this  period 
also  occurred  the  first  serious  disagreement  among  its  own 
people  over  the  election  of  a  new  pastor.  Mr.  Joseph 
Noyes  was  chosen,  after  an  animated  controversy,  but  a 
year  of  probation  reconciled  his  opponents,  and  he  was 
ordained  without  objection.  During  the  first  twenty  years 
of  his  ministry  the  declension  of  spiritual  religion  and  the 
decadence  of  public  morals,  not  only  in  New  Haven,  but 
elsewhere,  steadily  continued.  Such  at  least  is  the  tenor 
of  contemporary  declarations.  Probably  much  of  this 
disparaging  comment  is  due  to  the  narrow  and  rigid 
standards  of  the  day,  for  it  is  not  easy  to  believe  that  any 
great  or  general  depravity  could  then  have  existed  in  the 
rural  villages  of  New  England,  and  no  particulars  are  on 
record  to  justify  the  current  imputations. 

The  Great  Awakening. 

However,  this  may  be,  there  is  no  doubt  that  lifelessness 
in  religion,  and  monotony  in  intellectual  and  social  life, 
prevailed  in  New  Haven  throughout  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  which  were  followed  in  1735  by  a  great 
and  sudden  reaction.  In  that  year  remarkable  revivals  of 
religion,  known  as  "the  Great  Awakening,  attended  with 
extraordinary  popular  interest  and  excitement,  broke  out 
almost  simultaneously  throughout  New  England.  New 
Haven  was  one  of  the  first  places  to  feel  the  sweep  of  the 
tidal  wave,  and  even  after  its  first  force  was  spent,  it  con- 
tinued to  return  with  successive  impulses.  It  was  impos- 
sible that  such  an  upheaval  of  emotions,  the  profoundest 
and  most  intense  that  can  excite  the  human  breast,  could 
agitate  the  community  without  bringing  division  and 
controversy.  Sensitive  and  impassioned  souls,  urging  on 
the  movement  as  the  highest  call  of  duty,  were  arrayed 
against  cold,  conservative  natures  who  considered  it 


92  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

uncalled  for,  or  extravagant,  and  thus  households  were  soon 
divided  among  themselves,  husband  against  wife,  father 
against  daughter,  and  possibly,  in  some  extreme  cases,  son- 
in-law  against  mother-in-law. 

In  1740  first  appeared  in  New  Haven  the  celebrated 
revivalist,  George  Whitefield,  an  orator  of  remarkable 
fervor  and  power,  who  went  through  the  country  preaching 
to  enormous  crowds  of  people,  and  producing  an  effect  like 
that  which  followed  John  the  Baptist  in  Judea.  In  contrast 
with  the  current  Calvinistic  view  of  election  by  the  grace 
of  God,  which  led  the  sinner  to  passively  await  the  divine 
movement  in  his  soul,  he  proclaimed  the  gospel  of  salvation 
through  the  efforts  of  the  sinner  himself.  He  terrified  his 
hearers  by  depicting  the  flames  of  hell  as  ready  to  break 
forth  beneath  their  feet,  and  pressed  home  on  their  alarmed 
and  startled  consciences  the  necessity  for  immediate  repent- 
ance and  of  arousing  to  a  new  and  spiritual  life.  He 
inveighed  against  the  prevalent  sloth  and  torpor  in  religion, 
and  especially  denounced,  sometimes  by  name,  those  minis- 
ters who  were  at  ease  in  Zion  as  faithless  shepherds,  blind 
guides  and  unconverted  men.  On  his  first  visit  to  New 
Haven  he  preached  several  times  in  Mr.  Noyes'  pulpit,  and 
seems  not  to  have  given  any  special  ground  of  offense  to 
the  more  conservative  portion  of  the  church.  After  his 
departure,  however,  exhorters  and  ranters  more  extravagant 
than  he  sprang  up  on  all  sides.  Rev.  John  Davenport  was 
one  of  these,  a  great  grandson  of  the  New  Haven  founder, 
whose  mind,  as  it  afterwards  appeared,  was  somewhat 
unbalanced,  and  who  assailed  with  indecent  violence  all 
those  of  the  clergy  who  did  not  commit  themselves  unquali- 
fiedly to  what  was  now  called  the  "new  light  movement." 


The  Old  and  Nezv-light  Controversy. 

Rev.  Mr.  Noyes  was  now  50  years  old.  He  was  of  a 
calm  and  quiet  temperament,  and  did  not  readily  lend 
himself  to  new  doctrines,  or  to  methods  of  passionate 


RELIGIOUS    AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   ARENA.  93 

excitement,  and  he  quickly  became  the  special  target  for 
the  fire  of  Mr.  Davenport  and  his  sympathizers.  He  was 
also  rather  a  dull  preacher  at  best,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
a  strong  opposition  was  organized  against  him  in  his  own 
church.  Naturally  the  older  and  more  conservative  por- 
tion, who  also  constituted  the  majority,  rallied  for  his 
defense,  and  thus  the  church  was  divided  into  two  hostile 
factions,  known  as  the  "New  light"  and  "Old  light"  parties. 
In  1742  the  New-lights  associated  themselves  into  a  distinct 
church,  requested  a  separation  of  the  society  and  a  division 
of  the  property,  and  began  to  carry  on  separate  services  in 
a  private  house.  The  Old-light  party  protested  against 
the  secession  and  refused  to  divide  the  society.  As  the 
law  then  stood,  although  new  churches  might  be  formed, 
in  any  parish,  new  ecclesiastical  societies  could  not,  without 
a  license  from  the  Legislature.  In  the  meantime  the 
Separatists  were  obliged  to  support  their  own  worship  and, 
as  legal  members  of  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society,  were 
also  taxed  for  the  support  of  Mr.  Noyes.  As  such  mem- 
bers, however,  they  had  the  right  of  voting  at  all  meetings 
of  the  First  Society,  and  they  were  not  behindhand  in 
availing  themselves  of  the  privilege,  not  failing  to  attend 
every  business  meeting  and  doing  their  best  to  enliven  the 
proceedings.  The  Old-light  majority  had  a  paramount 
influence  with  the  Legislature,  and  not  only  prevented  a 
society  license  being  granted  to  the  New-light  church,  but 
secured  the  passage  of  a  law  forbidding  any  minister  to 
preach  within  the  limits  of  any  parish  without  the  consent 
of  the  established  pastor  and  a  majority  of  the  parish. 

Notwithstanding  these  obstacles,  the  New-light  party 
were  not  discouraged.  They  first  applied  for  permission 
to  build  a  meeting-house  on  the  Green.  Being  refused, 
they  proceeded  to  erect  one  on  the  corner  of  Elm  and 
Church  streets,  which  they  completed  in  1748,  and  painted 
an  azure  blue;  a  color  to  explain  which  has  greatly  puzzled 
the  historians.  Mr.  Barber  says  it  was  caused  by  mixing 
too  much  lampblack  with  the  white,  but  in  the  first  place, 


94  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

that  would  not  produce  a  blue,  and  in  the  second  place 
such  a  mistake  would  have  been  rectified  before  the  whole 
building  was  painted.  Others  have  suggested  that  the 
color  symbolized  the  orthodoxy  of  the  worshippers;  but 
the  fact  is  that  just  at  that  period  gaily-colored  meeting- 
houses were  a  fashionable  fad.  Those  at  Pomfret  and 
Windham  were  painted  a  brilliant  yellow.  The  Killingly 
meeting-house  was  yellow  with  a  red  roof;  and  in  1762 
Brooklyn  painted  her's  orange,  with  doors  and  trimmings 
of  chocolate  and  white.  Blue  was  in  fact  a  very  common 
color  for  buildings  in  New  Haven  at  that  time.  In 
Wadsworths's  map  of  1748  the  colors  of  the  painted  houses 
are  indicated  by  the  letters  "b"  and  "r"  and  from  this  it 
appears  that  eight,  including  the  college  building,  "Con- 
necticut Hall,"  were  painted  blue,  and  thirty-seven  red. 
White  was  an  unusual  color  on  account  of  its  greater 
expense,  the  virtues  of  barytes  as  an  adulterant  not  being 
then  understood. 

Affairs  were  in  this  situation  when  Whitefield  made  a 
second  visit  to  New  Haven  in  1745.  Regarding  him  as  a 
firebrand,  the  Old-light  party  refused  him  admission  to  the 
meeting-house,  and  as  the  Blue  Meeting-house  was  not 
yet  finished,  he  preached  to  a  great  multitude  assembled 
on  the  Green  in  front  of  the  Pierpont  trees,  which  stood 
at  the  present  intersection  of  Elm  and  Temple  streets.  In 
1751,  Rev.  Mr.  Bird  was  settled  as  pastor  in  the  Blue 
Meeting-house,  apparently  in  defiance  of  the  law,  and 
preached  without  interference.  Thus  matters  continued 
till  1757,  sixteen  years  after  the  contest  began.  During 
all  this  time  the  New-light  party  attended  the  meetings  of 
the  First  Society  with  great  regularity,  pressing  its  demand 
for  a  division  with  equal  pugnacity  and  piety,  and  resisted 
by  their  Old-light  adversaries  with  quite  as  much  grit  as 
grace. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  warfare  that  the  first  Brick 
Meeting-house  was  erected  on  the  Green.  An  attempt  was 
first  made  to  raise  the  necessary  funds  by  society  taxation; 


RELIGIOUS   AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   ARENA.  95 

but  the  law  required  a  two-thirds  vote  for  this,  and  the 
New-lights  were  on  hand  and  defeated  it.  It  was  therefore 
built  by  the  Old-lights  majority  partly  by  voluntary  contri- 
butions and  partly  with  funds  of  the  church,  a  body  to  which 
the  New-lights  did  not  pretend  to  belong.  It  was  com- 
menced in  1753,  and  finished  in  1757.  The  old  meeting- 
house remained  standing  in  front  of  it  for  over  two  years 
and  was  taken  down  in  1760. 

In  the  meantime  the  New-light  party  had  been  steadily 
growing  in  numbers  and  political  influence.  It  gathered 
to  its  support  not  only  those  who  favored  liberality  and 
equal  rights,  but  also  the  great  body  of  the  common  people, 
who  looked  upon  the  Old-lights  as  an  aristocratic  party, 
both  in  religion  and  politics.  By  1757  both  factions  had 
become  tired,  and  in  January  of  that  year  it  was  voted  that 
application  be  made  to  the  General  Assembly  for  a  division 
of  the  society  and  the  distribution  of  its  property.  As  pre- 
paratory for  such  division  it  was  ordered  that  all  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  parish  should  enroll  themselves,  and  that  each 
one  should  declare  which  party  he  favored  and  to  which  of 
the  two  societies  he  wished  to  belong.  By  June  the 
enrollment  was  completed,  and  lo!  the  New-light  party  had 
a  large  majority.  On  thus  discovering  "where  they  were 
at"  a  marvelous  change  of  heart  was  suddenly  experienced. 
The  New-lights  became  entirely  averse  to  a  division;  took 
possession  of  the  First  Society  meetings  and  carried  through 
a  vote  to  withdraw  the  application  to  the  Legislature. 
They  also  called  Mr.  Bird  to  be  the  minister  of  the  First 
Society,  "the  New-light  meeting-house  to  be  the  place  of 
worship  for  the  present."  "It  was  now,"  says  Dr.  Bacon, 
"the  turn  of  the  Old-lights  to  exercise  the  grace  of 
patience."  They  entered  their  protest  on  the  record — 
refused  to  be  bound  by  the  votes  that  had  been  taken,  and 
continued  to  occupy  the  old  meeting-house  with  Mr.  Noyes 
as  minister.  In  the  following  October  another  society 
meeting  was  held  and  the  New-light  majority  passed  a  vote 
requesting  Mr.  Noyes  to  cease  his  ministerial  labors,  with 


96  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

notice  that  his  salary  would  no  longer  be  paid.  Mr.  Noyes 
did  not  cease  his  labors,  but  brought  suit  for  his  salary  and 
recovered  judgment  for  the  full  amount. 

In  February,  1758,  the  Old-light  church  settled  Rev. 
Chauncey  Whittelsey  as  assistant  pastor  with  Mr.  Noyes, 
and  this  with  other  circumstances  brought  the  Old-light 
party  many  new  adherents,  so  that  the  tide  began  to  turn 
in  their  favor.  Before  1759  they  were  settled  in  the  new 
Brick  Meeting-house  and  had  again  a  clear  majority  in 
the  society.  In  view  of  the  vicissitudes  both  parties  had 
experienced,  they  were  now  both  disposed  to  accommoda- 
tion, and  in  January,  1759,  the  society  again  voted  to  apply 
to  the  Legislature  for  a  separation.  As  each  party  claimed 
to  be  the  First  Society,  the  Legislature  was  requested  to 
determine  this  point,  and  also  to  apportion  the  property  in 
an  equitable  manner.  In  October  the  division  was  effected. 
The  Old-lights  were  declared  to  be  the  First  Society,  and 
the  New-lights  were  incorporated  as  the  White  Haven 
Society.  The  Brick  Meeting-house  was  set  to  the  First 
Society,  and  the  old  meeting-house  and  the  bell  and  other 
appurtenances  to  the  two  jointly.  Thus  ended  the  war 
which  for  eighteen  years  had  kept  New  Haven  in  a  turmoil 
and  disrupted  social  foundations  and  family  ties.  So  bitter 
and  lasting  were  the  feelings  it  engendered  that  when  in 
1838,  seventy  years  later,  Dr.  Bacon  related  its  story  in  his 
Historical  Discourses,  he  declared  that  he  did  so  with  great 
anxiety,  "lest  walking  among  the  ashes  of  the  fires  that  had 
burned  so  fiercely,  he  might  tread  on  unextinguished 
embers."  Rev.  Mr.  Noyes  still  held  the  fort  when  peace 
was  declared  but  lived  only  three  years  longer.  He  died 
quietly  in  1701,  aged  73,  and  his  bones  lie  under  the  pulpit 
which  in  life  he  so  tenaciously  stuck  to. 

The  name  of  the  new  society,  "White  Haven,"  has  been 
the  theme  of  some  conjecture  with  respect  to  its  origin, 
but  seems  quite  explainable  in  the  light  of  the  foregoing 
history.  The  church  was  the  offspring  of  Whitefield's 
preaching,  and  the  combination  of  that  name  with  New 
Haven  was  the  most  natural  way  to  designate  it. 


THE   THIRD   MEETING   HOUSE   OR    "BRICK   MEETING   HOUSE. 
Built  1757— Removed  1813. 


RELIGIOUS   AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   ARENA.  97 

The  Fair  Haven  Society. 

Hardly  had  the  smoke  of  the  long  battle  cleared  away 
when  the  New-light  church,  which  had  seceded  partly  on 
the  ground  of  opposition  to  the  Half-way  Covenant,  con- 
quered its  prejudices  in  that  respect,  and  adopted  the  prac- 
tice by  a  large  majority.  Seven  years  later,  Rev.  Mr.  Bird 
having  resigned,  and  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards  being  called 
as  his  successor,  Mr.  Edwards  declined  the  call  unless  the 
Half-way  Covenant  was  abrogated.  Whereupon,  in  the 
most  obliging  manner  the  church  promptly  voted  to 
abandon  it.  A  considerable  number  of  members,  how- 
ever, found  themselves  unequal  to  this  doctrinal  agility, 
and  these  seceded,  to  form  a  third  society  under  the 
name  of  the  Fair  Haven  Society.  This  name  also,  has 
given  rise  to  much  speculation,  and  its  derivation  is  not 
entirely  clear.  Of  course  it  had  no  connection  with  the 
thriving  suburb  of  our  city  which  is  famous  for  its  fattened 
oysters.  In  1767  that  precinct  consisted  of  only  half  a 
dozen  fishermen's  huts,  two  miles  from  town,  and  was  known 
as  "The  Dragon,"  a  locality  most  unsuitable  to  give  the 
name  to  a  church.  Probably  the  full  title  of  the  church 
would  have  been  "The  Fair  Society  of  New  Haven,"  the 
word  "fair"  implying  either  its  attractiveness  in  contrast  with 
its  misguided  neighbors;  or  perhaps,  the  medium  and  fair 
position  it  occupied  spiritually  between  the  two,  combin- 
ing as  it  did  the  New-light  faith  with  the  Old-light,  Half- 
way Covenant  practice,  thus  being  "fair"  to  both  saints  and 
sinners. 

The  new  church  met  in  the  State  House  for  a  time  but 
soon  obtained  permission  to  build  on  the  Green,  and  in 
1770  the  Fair  Haven  Meeting-house  was  completed.  It 
stood  on  the  site  of  the  present  North  Church,  but  its 
longest  line  was  north  and  south,  with  the  steeple  on  the 
south  end.  It  was  made  of  wood,  and  as  the  new  Brick 
Church  was  red,  and  its  old  antagonist  blue,  this  one  was 
carefully  painted  white  in  order  to  symbolize  its  diversity 
7 


98  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

from  both  the  others.  Thus  the  New  Haven  churches  first 
became  identified  with  the  red,  white  and  blue  colors,  to 
which  in  their  symbolic  combination  they  have  since  so 
often  proved  their  fidelity. 

The  three  churches  thus  domiciliated  within  a  stone's 
throw  of  each  other  were  for  several  years  neighborly  only 
in  situation.  The  acrimony  left  by  their  previous  quarrels 
prevented  all  interchange  of  amenities,  and  it  was  not  until 
1779  that  an  angel  of  peace  appeared  to  bring  them  to  a 
common  agreement.  The  tranquilizer  on  this  occasion 
was  the  invading  British  army,  which  visited  New  Haven 
July  5,  1779,  and  its  soothing  influence  on  the  churches 
was  apparent  on  the  following  Sunday.  On  that  day,  for 
the  first  time,  they  had  a  united  service,  which  happy  event, 
with  its  abrupt  conclusion,  is  thus  chronicled  in  Dr.  Stiles' 
diary: 

"July  ii — Lord's  day — So  many  had  left  town  that  two 
congregations  agreed  to  meet  together  in  forenoon  at  Mr. 
Edwards'  meeting;  in  p.  m.  with  Mr.  Whittelsey;  I  was  to 
preach  a.  m.  but  was  interrupted  in  middle  of  sermon  with 
news  of  burning  of  Norwalk  on  enemy's  landing.  Congre- 
gation broke  up  and  spent  the  day  in  moving  furniture 
and  effects." 

A  month  later  a  rumor  became  current  that  the  enemy 
was  about  to  return  and  burn  the  town,  and  a  season  of 
fasting  and  prayer  was  promptly  held  by  mutual  consent,  but 
these  prudent  devotions  proved  to  have  been  superfluous, 
as  there  was  no  real  cause  for  alarm.  In  course  of  time, 
the  Fair  Haven  and  White  Haven  churches  became  recon- 
ciled, and  in  1796,  both  being  without  pastors  and  in  a 
declining  state,  they  again  associated  under  the  name  of 
"The  United  Societies  of  Fair  Haven  and  White  Haven," 
subsequently  abbreviated  to  "The  United  Society."  The 
new  society  by  the  reunion  came  into  possession  of  two 
meeting-houses  and  occupied  them  in  alternate  months 
until  1815,  when  the  Fair  Haven  Meeting-house  was 
removed  and  the  present  North  Church  was  built  on  its  site. 
The  Blue  Meeting-house  disappeared  soon  afterwards. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    ECCLESIASTICAL    ARENA.  99 


After  1800. 

Mr.  Whittelsey  continued  to  preach  in  the  Brick  Meeting- 
house until  his  death  in  1787.  He  was  followed  by  Rev. 
James  Dana,  who  was  the  last  of  the  preachers  identified 
with  the  Old-light,  Half-way  Covenant  period.  In  1805 
the  new  divinity  was  recognized  by  the  ordination  of  Rev. 
Moses  Stuart,  a  young  man  of  fervor  and  eloquence,  who 
remained,  however,  only  five  years  and  then  resigned  to 
become  an  eminent  professor  in  Andover  Theological  Semi- 
nary. Mr.  Nathaniel  Taylor  succeeded  Mr.  Stuart  in  1810, 
but  like  him  resigned  in  1820  to  become  an  equally  if  not 
more  distinguished  professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary 
of  Yale.  It  was  during  his  pastorate  that  the  present 
Center  Church  edifice  was  erected.  In  March,  1825,  Rev. 
Leonard  Bacon,  then  just  23  years  of  age,  was  installed 
in  the  pulpit  which  he  so  nobly  filled  until  his  resignation 
as  active  pastor  in  1866. 

The  first  half  of  this  century  was  marked  by  great 
religious  activity,  in  which  frequent  and  powerful  revivals 
were  a  conspicuous  feature.  Another  result  was  an 
extreme  sensitiveness  on  questions  of  Christian  morals, 
with  much  agitation  of  such  important  matters  as  the  sinful- 
ness  of  dancing,  card-playing  and  novel-reading.  Sectarian 
and  doctrinal  zeal  also  supplied  material  for  abundant  and 
profitless  controversy,  and  so  full  was  the  air  of  these  dis- 
putes that  even  the  church  bells  on  Sundays  were  said  to 
fling  out  their  sectarian  catch-words  at  each  other:  the 
Baptist  bell  calling  "Come  and  be  dipped";  and  Trinity 
proclaiming  "Bishops,  priests  and  deacons."  The  North 
Church  reiterated  "Free  grace — free  grace,"  while  Center 
solemnly  responded,  "To-tal  de-pravity."  These  denomi- 
national bickerings  may  be  said  to  have  continued  down 
to  the  time  of  the  civil  war,  but  in  the  excitement  and 
agitation  of  that  momentous  period  they  disappeared, 
and,  happily,  have  never  since  come  to  the  surface.  Thus 


100  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

in  the  religious  annals  of  the  Green,  as  in  other  lines  of  its 
history,  the  year  1862  marked  a  new  era,  and  forms  an 
appropriate  resting-place. 

The  three  churches  on  the  Green,  which  were  all  erected 
during  the  war  of  1812,  were  built  by  syndicates  or  associa- 
tions which  reimbursed  themselves  by  the  sale  or  the  rental 
of  the  pews.  Possibly  if  the  British  naval  commander  in 
the  Sound,  who  allowed  the  materials  for  their  construction 
to  pass  out  of  respect  for  a  community  that  was  so  "devilish 
pious,"  had  known  all  the  facts,  he  might  have  taken  a 
different  view  of  the  situation.*  Pews  in  those  days  were 
sold  and  rented  as  real  estate  by  the  owners,  the  occupancy 
of  them  carrying  no  liability  to  contribute  to  the  expenses 
of  the  church  or  society.  Religious  worship  until  1818 
was  supported  by  public  taxation;  the  taxpayer  had  the 
right  to  designate  the  Society  to  which  his  money  should 
be  applied,  and  if  he  did  not  exercise  this  privilege,  it  was 
applied  to  the  uses  of  the  Congregational  Church  as  the 
established  order.  Under  this  system  pew-ownership  was 
practicable,  but  the  Constitution  of  1818  abolished  it,  and 
it  was  soon  found,  as  it  had  been  in  1677,  that  voluntary 
contribution  was  an  insufficient  reliance  as  a  means  of 
church  revenue.  It  thus  became  necessary  for  the  eccle- 
ciastical  societies  to  acquire  the  ownership  of  the  pews,  and 
by  a  long  process  of  gradual  purchase,  and  an  occasional 
donation,  this  was  finally  accomplished.  The  last  acquisi- 
tion in  the  Center  Church  was  not  effected  till  1893. 

The  North  Church  was  completed  in  1815,  Rev.  Samuel 
Merwin  then  being  its  pastor.  Mr.  Merwin's  long  and 
faithful  ministry  lasted  from  1805  to  1831.  He  was  fol- 
lowed by  Rev.  Leverett  Sawyer,  who  remained  two  years. 
In  1838  Rev.  Samuel  Button  was  called  to  the  pulpit  and 
occupied  it  till  his  death,  in  January,  1866.  It  is  nearly 
thirty  years  since  Dr.  Button  passed  away,  but  the  memory 
of  his  genial  spirit,  his  generous  nature  and  his  devoted 
piety  is  still  warmly  cherished  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  knew 

*  See  Note  4. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    ECCLESIASTICAL    ARENA.  101 

him.  The  brotherly  affection  which  subsisted  between  him 
and  Dr.  Bacon  was  reflected  in  the  cordial  fraternity  of 
their  respective  churches — a  fraternity  which  still  continues 
and  which  strengthens  with  every  passing  year. 


Other  Denominations   on   the   Green. 

The  direct  connection  of  Trinity  parish  with  the  Green 
commences  with  the  permission  it  obtained  from  the  town 
in  1812  to  build  a  house  of  worship  upon  it.  The  building 
was  completed  in  1815.  Being  the  only  stone  church  in 
town,  and  esteemed  the  finest  specimen  of  Gothic  architec- 
ture in  the  United  States,  if  not  in  the  world,  it  was  naturally 
regarded  writh  some  complacency  by  its  congregation, 
especially  in  comparison  with  its  neighbors,  the  "Middle- 
brick"  and  "North-brick"  meeting-houses.  When  it  was 
consecrated,  in  1815,  Rev.  Harry  Croswell  was  its  rector, 
and  he  so  continued,  aided  by  various  assistants,  until  his 
death,  in  1858.  Dr.  Croswell  was  a  man  of  grand  and 
dignified  presence  and  of  commanding  qualities.  He 
wielded  great  influence  in  New  Haven,  being  universally 
beloved  and  honored,  and  under  his  charge  his  parish 
enjoyed  a  remarkable  growth  and  prosperity.  He  was 
succeeded  in  1859  by  Rev.  Edwin  Harwood,  whose  ministry 
terminated  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  year.  In  the 
fine  historical  discourse  which  Dr.  Harwood  delivered  in 
that  connection  he  congratulated  his  people  on  the  cordial 
relations  which  subsist  between  Trinity  and  its  sister 
churches  of  all  denominations  in  New  Haven.  Doubtless 
there  were  a  few  in  his  audience  who  failed  to  reflect  that 
this  was  due  in  great  measure  to  his  own  broad,  wise  and 
catholic  spirit  during  the  thirty-five  years  of  his  ministry. 
Like  Dr.  Bacon  he  retires  from  active  service  while  still 
in  the  vigor  of  life.  Like  him,  also,  may  he  long  be  spared 
in  strength  and  usefulness  to  enjoy  among  us  an  honored 
and  serene  old  age. 


102  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

After  two  denominations  had  been  permitted  to  build 
upon  the  Green,  it  was  natural  that  others  should  ask  for 
a  similar  privilege,  and  in  1820  the  Methodist  Society  was 
granted  liberty  by  a  town  vote  to  build  a  meeting-house 
in  the  northwest  corner.  The  little  band  of  worshippers 
were  poor  in  this  world's  goods  but  rich  in  faith  and  fervent 
in  spirit,  and  made  it  a  matter  of  principle  to  illustrate 
literally  the  petition  of  the  Lord's  prayer  as  they  generally 
pronounced  it,  "Hollo-wed  be  Thy  name."  The  previous 
pastor  had  been  a  strict  disciplinarian  and  had  excommuni- 
cated the  greater  part  of  his  flock;  most  righteously,  if  we 
may  judge  from  one  example,  that  of  a  sister,  who  was  given 
over  to  Satan  for  wearing  a  large  broad-brimmed  hat  in 
public  assemblies.  The  collapse  of  the  half-finished  build- 
ing in  the  September  gale  of  1821  has  been  referred  to  in  a 
previous  paper.  With  commendable  perseverance  and  the 
assistance  of  their  fellow  citizens  the  society  erected  another 
which  stood  till  1848.  By  this  time  the  congregation 
required  a  larger  building  and  an  arrangement  was  effected 
for  their  removal  from  the  Green  to  their  present  location 
on  the  corner  of  Elm  and  College  streets. 

In  1821  the  Baptist  Society,  which  had  been  worship- 
ping for  a  while  in  the  State  House,  obtained  leave  from  the 
town  to  build  a  meeting-house  on  the  southwest  corner  of 
the  Green,  but  subsequently,  in  view  of  the  remonstrance 
which  the  permission  evoked,  decided  not  to  avail  them- 
selves of  it  and  purchased  a  lot  on  Chapel  street  below  the 
bridge,  where  they  built  a  church  which  they  occupied  for 
many  years.  Eleven  years  later  an  infant  Universalist 
Society  applied  to  the  Proprietors'  Committee  for  the  site 
which  the  Baptists  had  resigned,  but  the  application  was 
unsuccessful.  The  refusal  of  the  Committee  was  couched  in 
elaborate  diplomatic  phraseology  and  dwelt  on  the  inex- 
pediency of  allowing  further  enroachments  on  the  Green; 
but  it  is  easy  to  read  between  the  lines  the  complacency  of 
the  Committee  in  thus  baffling  an  attempt  of  the  adversary 
to  get  a  foothold  under  the  very  eaves  of  the  orthodox 
churches. 


RELIGIOUS   AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   ARENA.  103 

Of  open-air  religious  meetings  held  on  the  Green  prior 
to  1862  not  much  information  has  been  preserved.  The 
great  assemblage  addressed  by  Whitefield  in  1745  has  been 
already  mentioned.  About  1790  Jesse  Lee,  the  founder 
of  Methodism  in  New  England,  held  large  meetings  on 
the  Green  in  gathering  that  church  in  New  Haven.  The 
present  Universalists  held  services  at  intervals  on  the  north 
steps  of  the  last  State  House.  And  an  occasional  itinerant 
like  the  eccentric  Lorenzo  Dow  from  time  to  time  appeared 
and  drew  together  what  he  called  "a  religious  meeting," 
of  which  the  "collection"  was  the  most  conspicuous  feature. 
In  1842  another  itinerant,  William  Miller,  who  had  already 
created  a  great  excitement  throughout  New  England  by 
predicting  the  destruction  of  the  world  in  1843,  preached 
several  discourses  to  crowded  congregations  in  the  Metho- 
dist Church.  His  argument  was  drawn  from  the  recorded 
antics  of  certain  peculiar  beasts  mentioned  by  the  Prophet 
Daniel,  and  his  figures  fixed  the  time  of  the  final  conflagra- 
tion at  a  certain  date  in  December,  1843.  On  the  night  of 
the  appointed  day,  in  the  midst  of  a  driving  snow  storm, 
the  cry  of  "fire"  aroused  the  community.  A  wonderful 
lurid  glare  filled  the  heavens,  but  no  cause  for  it  could  be 
discovered.  Numerous  believers  donned  their  ascension 
robes,  but  the  glow  disappeared,  and  the  next  morning 
information  was  received  that  the  only  portion  of  the  world 
that  had  been  destroyed  was  a  paper  mill  in  Westville. 


Notable  Religious  Meetings  on  the  Green. 

Among  the  notable  religious  meetings  which  have  been 
held  on  the  Green  one  may  be  specially  referred  to  as  of 
historic  interest.  It  took  place  in  1822  in  the  North  Church, 
on  the  departure  of  the  second  company  of  missionaries 
from  this  country  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  They  sailed 
the  next  day  from  this  port  in  a  New  Haven  vessel.  The 
missionary  movement  to  those  islands  originated  in  New 
Haven  and  was  for  many  years  largely  supported  by  the 


104  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

churches  on  the  Green.  To  these  churches  therefore  it  is 
principally  due  that  that  young  republic  to-day  is  controlled 
by  American  institutions  and  American  influence,  instead 
of  being  an  appendage  of  Great  Britain  or  France.  In 
recognition  of  this  fact,  when  the  interior  of  the  Center 
Church  was  renovated  in  1843,  its  pulpit  was  sent  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands  at  the  request  of  the  people  there  and  set 
up  in  the  First  Church  of  Honolulu  as  a  memorial  of  New 
Haven,  upon  whose  Green  not  only  that  church  but  the 
Hawaiian  nation  itself  may  be  fairly  said  to  have  been 
founded. 

Another  notable  service,  also  in  the  North  Church,  the 
Kansas  Rifle  meeting  held  in  1856,  has  been  referred  to  in 
a  previous  paper.  Political  preaching  has  always  been 
regarded  by  the  Congregational  clergy  as  one  of  their 
vested  rights,  and  their  pulpits  on  the  Green  have  always 
been  not  merely  "drums  ecclesiastic"  but  "drums  civic" 
for  all  calls  to  public  duty.  It  was  so  when  in  1660  Mr. 
Davenport  preached  on  sheltering  the  Regicide  judges,  and 
it  was  so  when  in  1861  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  flung 
from  the  topmast  spire  of  Center  Church,  there  to  float 
till  the  bell  beneath  should  proclaim  the  surrender  of  the 
last  rebel  army.  For  nearly  two  centuries,  in  default  of 
daily  papers,  important  news  and  public  notices  were  habitu- 
ally announced  from  the  pulpit.  It  was  thus  that  calls  for 
troops  and  supplies  were  made  during  the  Revolution. 
The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  first  publicly  read  in 
New  Haven  in  the  meeting-houses,  and  in  1815  the  news  of 
the  treaty  of  peace  was  made  known  from  the  pulpit  of  the 
Old  Blue  Meeting-house,  on  Sunday,  February  13,  having 
just  been  communicated  by  the  post  rider  as  he  passed  by 
the  door. 

The  numerous  printed  sermons  which  have  come  down 
to  us  from  colonial  days  suggest  that  a  good  opinion  of 
their  merit  was  entertained  at  least  by  their  authors,  but 
to  the  modern  reader  they  are  of  little  interest,  being  prolix, 
dogmatic  and  tedious  in  the  extreme.  Among  these  pub- 


NORTH    CHURCH. 
Built  1815. 


RELIGIOUS   AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   ARENA.  105 

lished  discourses  is  one  preached  September  2,  1772,  by 
Rev.  Sampson  Occum,  a  converted  Indian,  at  the  hanging 
of  a  fellow  aboriginal  for  murder.  The  execution,  which 
was  the  first  in  New  Haven  since  1749,  was  preceded  by  a 
religious  service  in  the  Brick  Meeting-house.  An  immense 
audience  attended,  the  court  and  magistrates  being  present. 
The  prisoner,  accompanied  by  the  sheriff,  occupied  the 
place  of  honor,  and  the  minister  and  the  choir  vied  with 
each  other  in  their  efforts  to  do  justice  to  an  occasion  so 
brilliant  and  interesting. 

Next  to  hangings,  ordinations  were  the  most  festive 
events  which  enlivened  the  Green  down  to  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century.  Distinguished  divines  and  promi- 
nent dignitaries  from  all  parts  of  the  State  were  invited, 
and  crowds  came  in  from  the  surrounding  towns.  The 
candidate  was  first  publicly  examined  as  to  his  orthodoxy, 
which  afforded  a  great  opportunity  for  ecclesiastical  fenc- 
ing and  doctrinal  athletics.  Then  came  a  procession 
generally  headed  by  music  to  the  meeting-house,  which  was 
crowded  literally  to  the  ceiling,  the  beams  and  rafters  over- 
head being  often  occupied.  After  the  services  a  sumptuous 
banquet  followed  at  the  tavern,  the  bill  for  which  closely 
resembled  Falstaff's  tavern  score  in  its  proportions  of  bread 
and  sack.  The  account  for  entertaining  the  Council  at  the 
ordination  of  Dr.  Bacon  in  1825  is  still  preserved  and  its 
charges  are,  for  dinners  $30.50,  for  porter,  wine  and  cigars 
$42.25,  for  liquors  and  horsekeeping  $12.75.  ^n  m^ny 
New  England  towns  there  was  a  ball  in  the  evening,  to 
solace  the  young  people  from  a  distance  who  happened  to 
arrive  too  late  for  the  ordination,  but  I  find  no  evidence 
that  ordination  balls  were  ever  customary  in  New  Haven. 


Improvements  introduced  by   Trinity. 

The  early  New  England  clergy  wore  gowns  and  bands 
in  the  pulpit,  and  the  practice  seems  to  have  continued 
in  New  Haven  until  about  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  after 


106  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

which  it  gradually  died  out.  It  was  at  this  period  that 
Episcopacy  began  to  become  prominent  and  possibly  these 
badges  became  objectionable  as  savoring  of  prelacy.  How- 
ever this  may  have  been  with  regard  to  clerical  vestments, 
it  is  certain  that  in  other  directions  the  influence  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  on  Puritan  ideas  and  usages  in  New 
Haven  has  been  of  quite  an  opposite  character.  From  the 
time  when  the  new  denomination  gained  an  established 
position,  it  has  exerted  a  marked  effect  on  the  Congrega- 
tional order  in  the  gradual  amelioration  of  its  doctrinal 
asperities,  and  in  the  improvement  and  adornment  of  its 
ecclesiastical  appliances  and  forms  of  worship.  The  change 
in  these  respects  dates  back  to  the  organization  of  Trinity 
Parish  about  1750,  and  it  will  be  interesting  to  notice  some 
of  those  steps  in  its  progress  in  which  Trinity  has  been  the 
pioneer.  In  1752  Trinity  erected  its  first  house  of  worship, 
sarcastically  called  by  Dr.  Stiles  "a  reading  house,"  a  small 
and  modest  edifice;  but  it  was  adorned  with  a  steeple  and 
spire  and  thus  symbolized,  as  an  admiring  vestryman 
declared,  "good  Mother  Church,  with  one  foot  resting  on 
the  apostolic  rock,  and  the  other  pointing  to  the  skies."* 
The  graceful  and  suggestive  emblem  commended  itself  at 
once  to  the  First  Church,  which  built  the  Brick  Meeting- 
house in  the  following  year  and  adopted  the  same  appropri- 
ate appendage.  In  1764  the  White  Haven  Society  attached 
a  similar  addition  to  the  barn-like  Blue  Meeting-house,  and 
the  Fair  Haven  Society,  which  built  in  1770,  followed  the 
now  established  fashion.  The  meeting-houses  having  thus 
taken  on  a  more  churchly  form,  began  to  be  invested  with 
a  more  sacred  character;  so  that  in  1814  and  1815,  when 
the  two  Congregational  houses  of  worship  now  on  the 
Green  were  completed,  they  were  solemnly  "dedicated  to 
the  worship  of  God."  No  such  ceremony  had  ever  been 
applied  to  their  predecessors,  which  had  been  intended  for 
secular  as  well  as  religious  uses.  Having  thus  been  quali- 
fied as  "churches,"  that  term  is  now  properly  applied  to 

*  See  Note  5. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    ECCLESIASTICAL    ARENA.  107 

them;  nevertheless  in  the  Congregational  mind  the  Puritan 
instinct  is  still  potent  and  its  conceptions  of  the  church  as 
an  edifice  are  strongly  imbued  with  the  meeting-house 
flavor. 

Another  improvement  in  ecclesiastical  appliances,  in 
which  Trinity  led  its  contemporaries,  was  in  the  use  of 
the  organ,  which  it  introduced  in  1784.  The  innovation 
was  regarded  by  its  neighbors  as  a  mode  of  worship- 
ping God  by  machinery  and  a  clear  proof  of  papistical 
tendencies,  and  it  was  not  till  1818,  or  thirty-four  years 
later,  that  the  United  Society  could  be  brought  to  allow 
David  Read  and  others  to  place  an  organ  in  the  North 
Church  on  trial  at  their  own  expense.  The  Center 
Church  held  out  with  its  old-fashioned  choir  till  1855,  when 
it  fell  into  line  with  the  others.  Trinity  was  the  first  also 
to  introduce  an  artificial  warmth  into  public  worship  by 
means  of  stoves,  which  it  adopted  in  1806.  The  congrega- 
tions in  the  other  churches  regarded  this  as  another  step 
toward  popery,  and  continued  to  combine  their  spiritual 
glow  with  blue  noses  and  chattering  teeth  for  twenty 
winters  longer.  Possibly  they  believed  that  the  "colder  the 
church  the  less  likely  the  tempter  of  souls  would  be  to  leave 
his  warm  quarters  and  enter  them.  Nevertheless  when  the 
Center  and  North  Churches  were  built  in  1814  and  1815, 
they  were  both  provided  with  chimneys,  and  brick  or 
"Russian"  stoves,  as  they  were  called,  appear  to  have  been 
used  in  the  Center  Church  immediately  thereafter.  The 
United  Society,  however,  held  out  much  more  heroically 
against  the  Evil  One  in  its  test  of  endurance.  Propositions 
to  connect  stoves  with  its  empty  chimney  were  repeatedly 
voted  down,  but  by  1827,  during  an  extremely  cold  snap, 
it  became  so  evident  that  the  enemy  could  not  be  success- 
fully frozen  out,  that  they  wisely  resolved  to  fight  the  Devil 
with  fire  and  thus  turned  the  tables  on  the  adversary.* 

The  warming  of  the  meeting-houses  brought  about  the 
disuse  of  Sabbath-day  houses,  which  had  been  for  nearly 

*  See  Note  6. 


108  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

two  hundred  years  the  retreat  of  half-frozen  worshippers 
from  out  of  town,  during  the  noon  interval  between  the 
Sunday  services.  At  least  one  of  these  refuges  stood  upon 
the  Green,  a  little  east  of  the  Fair  Haven  Church,  perhaps 
as  late  as  1800. 

To  Trinity  also  the  worshipping  congregations  of  New 
Haven  are  indebted  for  first  placing  a  clock  directly  in  front 
of  the  preacher  to  remind  him  that  time  is  a  matter  of 
interest  as  well  as  eternity.  The  handsome  clock  which 
adorns  the  gallery  front  in  Trinity  Church,  with  a  carved 
figure  in  gilt  representing  David  playing  on  a  harp,  was  the 
first  time-piece  set  up  in  any  New  Haven  church  interior, 
and  was  given  to  the  church  by  the  architect,  Mr.  Ithiel 
Towne.  The  story  is  that  Mr.  Towne,  who  had  previously 
been  identified  with  the  First  Society,  had  intended  to  give 
this  clock  to  the  Center  Church,  but  owing  to  some  dis- 
agreement with  the  Society  changed  his  mind  and  not  only 
gave  the  clock  to  Trinity  but  always  attended  service  there 
afterwards.  It  is  said  that  this  incident  deeply  impressed 
the  First  Church  with  a  conviction  that  brethren  ought  to 
dwell  together  in  peace  and  harmony,  and  that  they  sang 
thereafter  with  pathetic  unction  the  hymn  containing  the 
lines: 

Let  all  our  hearts  in  tune  be  found 
Like  David's  harp  of  solemn  sound. 

The  changes  which  have  gradually  crept  into  Puritan 
usages  and  forms  of  worship  through  the  influence  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  are  so  familiar  that  they  hardly  need  be 
enumerated.  One  of  the  first  in  order  was  the  discontinu- 
ance of  standing  in  prayer,  a  custom  universal  for  men, 
women  and  children  less  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  Under 
Mr.  Davenport's  ministry  it  was  a  local  custom  for  the 
congregation  to  rise  and  remain  standing  during  the  read- 
ing of  the  text.  It  does  not  appear  when  this  practice 
ceased,  but  Mr.  Barber  says  that  as  late  as  1815,  if  two 
clergymen  were  in  a  New  Haven  pulpit  during  service,  it 


TRINITY    CHURCH. 
Built  1815. 


RELIGIOUS    AND    ECCLESIASTICAL    ARENA.  109 

was  usual  for  the  one  who  did  not  officiate  to  rise  while 
the  other  announced  the  text  of  the  discourse.  The  general 
observance  of  Church  holy  days  and  anniversaries  is  another 
important  change.  Christmas,  Good  Friday  and  Easter 
are  now  recognized  as  religious  occasions  by  all  denomi- 
nations, and  Lent  is  also  piously  observed,  at  least  as  a 
season  of  social  tranquility,  literary  lectures,  and  the  prepa- 
ration of  Easter  millinery.  These  innovations,  which  one 
hundred  years  ago  would  have  been  regarded  as  little  short 
of  Roman  Catholicism,  and  also  the  growing  use  of  various 
portions  of  the  Episcopal  liturgy  in  Congregational  wor- 
ship, are  among  the  borrowed  graces  by  which  New  Eng- 
land Puritanism  is  being  progressively  mellowed  and 
enriched.  If  imitation  is  flattery,  the  Episcopal  Church 
may  well  feel  a  worthy  gratification  in  observing  the  move- 
ment of  all  Protestant  denominations  toward  the  general 
adoption  of  its  venerable  and  noble  ritual.  Not  less 
heartily  must  every  friend  of  Christian  unity  rejoice  to  see 
each  partition  dissolve  which  tends  to  separate  different 
sects  or  obscure  the  common  ground  on  which  they  stand. 


Early  and  later  Church  Music. 

The  allusion  to  organs  and  choirs  suggests  a  reference  to 
the  different  styles  of  church  music  which  have  enlivened  the 
meeting-houses  on  the  Green  from  1640  down  to  modern 
times.  Unfortunately  the  church  and  society  records  of 
New  Haven,  unlike  those  of  many  New  England  towns, 
throw  little  light  on  the  subject  and  none  at  all  before  1771. 
So  far  as  can  now  be  ascertained,  the  Sternhold  and 
Hopkins  collection  of  psalms  was  the  only  singing  book 
used  until  about  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  when  it  was 
supplanted  by  Dr.  Watts'  version,  and  Dr.  Dwight's  Revi- 
sion of  Watts  succeeded  in  the  year  1800.  The  custom  of 
"lining  out"  or  reading  each  line  of  the  psalm  before  it  was 
sung  was  followed  until  1774  if  not  later.  It  was  abolished 
in  the  White  Haven  church  in  that  year.  Probably  also 


1  10  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

in  the  exercise  of  singing,  each  member  of  the  congregation 
followed  his  own  ideas  of  time  and  tune  according  to  the 
general  practice  of  New  England  churches  until  after  the 
Revolution.  The  singing  school  of  New  England  social 
circles  was  an  institution  unknown  to  the  earlier  period, 
and  very  few  choirs  were  organized  until  after  1750. 
Before  that  time  it  was  said  by  a  contemporary  writer:  "No 
two  men  in  the  congregation  quaver  alike  or  together,  and 
it  sounds  in  the  ears  of  a  good  judge  like  five  hundred 
different  tunes  roared  out  at,the  same  time  with  perpetual 
interferings  with  one  another."  A  violent  controversy 
finally  sprung  up  throughout  New  England  between  two 
parties  in  church  music,  the  one  demanding  the  use  of  notes 
or  "singing  by  rule,"  the  other  resisting  the  innovation  on 
the  ground  that  "singing  by  rule  would  be  followed  by 
praying  by  rule,  and  preaching  by  rule;  and  then  comes 
popery." 

If  this  agitation  reached  New  Haven,  there  is  no  tradi- 
tion of  it.  Possibly  the  use  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins' 
instead  of  the  Bay  State  Psalm  Book  may  have  prevented 
its  necessity,  as  the  former  was  not  only  far  superior  to  the 
other  in  literary  merit,  but  frequently  contained  musical 
notes.  Perhaps  the  existence  of  the  college  here  may  have 
occasioned  a  better  knowledge  and  practice  of  music  than  in 
most  other  towns,  for  we  learn  from  Dr.  Stiles'  diary  that 
at  some  of  the  special  services  there  was  "singing  by  the 
students."  The  first  record  of  a  church  choir  appeared  in 
1771,  when  the  White  Haven  Church  voted  "that  those 
persons  who  are  singers  in  the  congregation  be  desired  to 
sit  m  the  gallery  together."  A  committee  on  music  was 
also  appointed  and  a  number  of  tunes  selected  which  should 
alone  be  used.  In  1777  Andrew  Law  of  Cheshire  advertised 
"a  collection  of  Psalm  Tunes  for  use  in  Public  Worship." 
In  1786  Daniel  Reade  published  the  "American  Singing" 
Book  in  New  Haven.  In  1794,  the  First  Ecclesiastical 
Society  appropriated  nine  pounds  for  promoting  instruc- 
tion in  singing  conditioned  on  the  other  ecclesiastical 
societies  doing  the  same. 


RELIGIOUS   AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   ARENA.  Ill 

From  this  time,  if  not  earlier,  choir  singing  superseded 
congregational  singing.  Singing  schools  became  the  chief 
social  dissipation,  and  the  gallery  entered  on  its  career  as 
a  rival  of  the  pulpit  for  the  principal  honors  of  the  service. 
As  the  choir  developed  in  numbers  and  skill  it  naturally 
became  more  aspiring.  It  assumed  independence  in  its 
sphere  of  action  and  aimed  to  monopolize  the  praising  func- 
tion entirely,  selecting  tunes  which  defied  the  ability  of  the 
congregation  to  follow,  and  indulging  in  artistic  flights 
which  scandalized  the  conservatives  as  awful  exhibitions 
of  "unsanctified  singing."  It  was  useless,  however,  to 
resist  the  march  of  musical  progress,  and  in  all  attempts 
to  do  so  the  choir  invariably  came  off  triumphant.  Thus 
in  1830  a  majority  of  the  United  Church  rose  in  opposition 
to  the  organ  interludes  and  voted  that  "the  symphonies  be 
suspended  for  the  ensuing  year."  The  order  had  as  little 
effect  as  the  pope's  bull  against  the  comet,  and  at  the  next 
annual  meeting  the  church  only  ventured  humbly  to  sug- 
gest that  "the  symphonies  be  shortened." 

The  choir  of  the  Center  Church  had  no  organ  till  1856, 
but  the  want  was  more  than  made  up  by  a  wonderful 
orchestra  of  wind  and  stringed  instruments,  which  Dr. 
Bacon  appropriately  designated  "Nebuchadnezzar's  band." 
The  chorister  for  many  years  \vas  Ailing  Brown,  and  under 
the  guidance  of  his  enrapturing  fiddle,  the  achievements 
of  his  devoted  followers  were  often  grand  and  moving  in 
the  extreme.  The  great  effort  of  the  Sunday  exercises  was 
concentrated  on  the  afternoon  voluntary,  which  opened  the 
service,  and  on  which  the  choir  had  been  carefully  practic- 
ing through  the  previous  week.  "Expression"  was  their 
strong  point,  and  few  who  remember  those  days  will  ever 
forget  their  impressive  rendering  of  Dr.  Watts'  beautiful 
Psalm,  beginning, 

Let  all  the  heathen  writers  join 

To  make  a  perfect  book; 
Great  God!  when  once  compared  with  thine 

How  mean  their  writings  look! 


112  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW    HAVEN   GREEN. 

The  first  two  lines  were  given  with  a  bold  self-confident 
air,  reflecting  the  vainglory  of  the  heathen  writers,  and 
their  dismal  failure  was  expressed  by  a  derisive  tone,  fol- 
lowed by  a  snort  of  the  trombone,  highly  expressive  of  con- 
tempt. Another  noble  stanza  from  Dr.  Watts'  collection 
afforded  a  fine  opportunity  for  variety  of  expression,  the 
music  commencing  with  a  lofty,  heroic  style,  followed  by 
a  halting  movement  of  hesitation  and  alarm,  and  closing 
with  an  air  of  pathos  befitting  the  painful  climax: 

So  Samson,  when  his  hair  was  lost, 
Met  the  Philistines  to  his  cost! 
Shook  his  vain  limbs  with  sad  surprise, 
Made  feeble  fight,  and  lost  his  eyes! 

Alas!  the  old-fashioned  hymn-book  and  the  volunteer 
choir  of  fifty  years  ago  are  gone,  and  with  them  are  gone 
those  soul-inspiring  flights  of  feeling  and  harmony.  With 
the  growth  of  musical  knowledge  and  taste  the  praising  of 
God  is  now  accomplished  by  salaried  singers,  who  are 
selected  for  their  ability  to  give  the  church  a  preeminence 
for  artistic  music  and  to  fill  it  with  appreciative  audiences 
and  rent-paying  pewholders.  Their  Sunday  programs 
are  advertised  in  advance  and  their  performances  are  made 
the  subject  of  careful  and  critical  comment  by  the  news- 
papers, as  if  they  were  a  public  entertainment  and  not  a 
solemn  service  of  worship;  a  strange  confusion  of  ideas 
and  one  entirely  inexcusable  because  no  money  is  taken  at 
the  door. 

The  Four  Meeting-Jwuses. 

If  now  we  look  backwards  over  this  review  of  New 
Haven  Green  as  a  religious  and  ecclesiastical  arena,  there 
pass  before  our  mental  vision  the  four  successive  meeting- 
houses of  the  original  church  as  the  most  prominent  land- 
marks in  the  retrospect;  and  we  observe  that  each  of  them 
is  associated  with  a  distinct  stage  of  progress  in  the  mutual 
relations  of  church  and  state.  The  first  rude  and  rickety 


THE   CENTER   CHURCH. 
Built  1812. 


RELIGIOUS   AND    ECCLESIASTICAL   ARENA.  113 

building,  which  stood  from  1640  to  1670,  was  almost 
exactly  contemporary  with  the  period  when  church  and 
state  were  identical,  and  fitly  typified  that  crude  and 
unstable  polity.  Structurally  weak  from  the  outset,  both 
building  and  polity  fell  speedily  into  dilapidation,  and  both 
collapsed  together.  The  second  meeting-house,  lasting 
from  1670  to  1757,  was  coeval  with  the  dominance  of  a 
single  ecclesiastical  order  in  the  civil  government,  and  sym- 
bolized that  era  by  its  sole  occupancy  of  the  public  square, 
its  mingled  secular  and  religious  aspect  and  uses,  and  by 
its  square  ugliness  without  and  its  barren  formalism 
within.  When  the  third  meeting-house  was  finished  in 
1757>  a  third  stage  had  been  reached  in  the  ecclesiastical 
and  civil  history  of  Connecticut.  The  religious  establish- 
men  was  no  longer  confined  to  a  single  denomination. 
New  orders  had  begun  to  be  recognized  as  legitimate 
offshoots  of  the  parent  stock,  and  while  the  old  Brick 
Meeting-house  remained,  additional  branches  were  grafted 
upon  the  original  stem  to  share  in  its  legal  recogni- 
tion and  privileges.  The  influence  of  these  different  com- 
munions upon  each  other  was  beneficial  to  all.  Mutual 
observation  tended  to  strengthen  the  tone  of  religious  life, 
to  make  it  less  formal,  more  spiritual  and  earnest,  broader 
and  more  progressive.  The  Brick  Meeting-house,  in  con- 
trast with  its  predecessor,  illustrated  these  growing  graces 
as  well  as  this  divided  supremacy.  Its  outward  appearance 
was  more  comely  and  more  expressive  of  devotional  uses. 
Moreover,  it  no  longer  monopolized  the  Green,  and  though 
the  Brick  and  Fair  Haven  Meeting-houses  always  continued 
to  confront  each  other  in  pugnacious  attitude,  they  gradu- 
ally lost  their  mutual  acerbity,  and  by  the  time  they  passed 
away  were  ready  to  rest  lovingly,  side  by  side,  as  their 
successors  have  done  ever  since.  By  that  time  also,  both 
were  ready  to  welcome  their  sister  Trinity  to  her  new  home 
on  the  Green  as  an  acceptable  member  of  the  family  group. 
But  the  time  had  now  arrived  when  the  people  had  out- 
grown the  system  of  a  state  religion  and  the  three  churches 


114  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

on  the  Green  had  hardly  been  erected  when  the  institution 
was  overthrown.  Since  1818  church  and  state  have  been 
completely  disassociated,  to  the  unspeakable  advantage  of 
both.  Religion,  freed  from  political  trammels,  has  out- 
grown its  sectarian  jealousies  and,  with  more  elevated  aims, 
has  advanced  with  an  ever-widening  activity  in  the  service 
of  God  and  man.  Of  this  free,  hopeful  and  brotherly 
Christianity,  illustrated  by  all  denominations  and  by  every 
individual  church,  the  fourth  house  of  worship  in  our  his- 
torical series,  that  which  pertains  to  the  old  First  Church, 
the  mother  of  all  the  rest,  by  its  central  position  on  the 
Green,  its  dominating  spire,  its  happy  combination  of  archi- 
tectural dignity  and  grace,  its  historic  tablets  and  memorials 
and  its  crypt  filled  with  common  ancestral  tombs,  seems  to 
speak  for  all  communions  alike,  and  to  extend  to  all  alike 
its  maternal  greeting  and  benediction. 

If  we  were  to  write  upon  each  of  these  four  successive 
temples  of  the  ancient  church  an  inscription,  expressive  of 
the  spirit  toward  other  forms  of  faith,  which  most  distin- 
guished its  period,  we  should  write  upon  the  first  one — 
"INTOLERANCE;"  upon  the  second,  "JEALOUSY;"  upon  the 
third,  "RECOGNITION,"  and  upon  the  fourth,  "FELLOW- 
SHIP." 

And  when  the  present  edifice  crumbles  away,  as  in  time 
it  must,  shall  its  place  upon  the  Green  remain  forever 
vacant?  Rather  let  that  spot,  consecrated  to  religion  from 
the  dawn  of  New  Haven's  history,  be  preserved  as  hallowed 
ground!  Let  another  temple  arise  there  and  a  new  inscrip- 
tion be  written  upon  it — a  temple  noble  and  enduring  in 
architecture;  a  temple  always  open,  and  filled  with  the 
harmony  of  a  universal  form  of  worship;  a  temple  with 
portals  wide  enough  to  admit  all  sincere  believers  of  every 
name,  who  worship  the  common  Father  in  spirit  and  in 
truth,  and  let  the  word  that  it  bears  be  "UNION!" 


NOTES  TO   PAPER  No.  III. 


NOTE  i  (page  87). 

Mr.  Pierpont  married  Abigail  Davenport  October  27th,  1691.  On 
the  Sabbath  after  her  wedding  she  attended  meeting  in  her  bridal  dress, 
according  to  the  fashion  of  the  time,  took  cold,  and  died  of  consump- 
tion about  three  months  later,  February  3d,  1692.  His  second  wife  was 
a  granddaughter  of  Gov.  Haynes  of  Hartford,  and  his  third,  Mary 
Hooker,  was  a  granddaughter  of  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  the  founder 
of  Hartford.  She  lived  till  1640  and  her  daughter  Sarah  married 
Jonathan  Edwards,  the  eminent  metaphysician  and  divine. 


NOTE  2  (page  89). 

In  January,  1698,  the  town  voted  to  build  a  new  meeting-house  of 
stone  or  brick  60  feet  long,  50  feet  wide  and  20  feet  high,  for  £500,  but 
as  nobody  would  take  the  contract  it  was  decided  to  enlarge  the  old 
one  "by  adding  16  or  20  feet  on  ye  side  next  ye  burial  place."  In  the 
two  following  years  (1699  and  1700)  there  were  numerous  improve- 
ments in  the  exterior  and  interior  of  the  building,  and  pews  introduced 
"back  of  the  pulpit,"  which  were  let  with  the  privilege  reserved  to  the 
town  of  filling  the  pews  if  the  holders  did  not  do  so.  There  were 
"side  galaries"  and  a  "galary  behind  the  pulpit" — and  in  1727  an 
additional  gallery  was  placed  above  the  others.  The  bell  rope  hung 
down  through  a  hole  in  the  center  of  the  ceiling.  Dr.  Bacon  is  in 
error  in  supposing  that  the  gallery  stairs  may  have  been  outside. 
There  were  applications  made  and  refused  to  build  private  pews  "under 
the  stairs  to  the  men's  galary,"  and  "under  the  stairs  to  the  woman's 
galary,"  and  the  constables  were  directed  to  prevent  excessive  noise 
in  the  use  of  the  gallery  stairs. 

NOTE  3  (page  89). 

The  subject  of  seats  in  the  meeting-house  was  a  fruitful  subject  of 
discussion  in  town  meeting  for  many  years  before  1700.  A  seating 
committee  was  annually  appointed,  but  there  were  complaints  that 
people  took  seats  assigned  to  others  and  got  into  the  "soldiers  seats." 
After  the  enlargement  of  the  meeting-house  in  1700  it  was  thought  a 
good  time  to  revise  the  subject  and  the  rule  was  laid  down  as  stated  in 
the  text,  and  at  the  same  time  the  dignity  of  the  different  seats  was 
duly  graded  by  vote.  "The  civil  authority  and  the  two  deacons" 


116  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

were  then  appointed  a  seating  committee  who  at  a  subsequent  meeting 
"published  what  they  had  done  to  ye  towne"  and  their  report  was 
accepted.  This  is  the  last  reference  in  the  town  records  to  the  seating 
of  people  in  the  meeting-house.  In  1715  the  town  was  divided  into 
two  ecclesiastical  societies  of  which  "The  First  Ecclesiastical  Society" 
comprised  substantially  what  is  now  embraced  in  the  town  limits. 
Thereafter  matters  relating  to  religious  worship,  schools,  etc.  are  found 
in  the  records  of  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society.  From  these  it 
appears  that  seats  were  assigned  to  persons  by  name  as  late  as  1719  and 
probably  later.  Students  were  placed  in  the  galleries.  A  few  private 
pews  were  allowed  before  the  Brick  Meeting-house  was  built  in  1757, 
and  more  were  permitted  in  that  building,  but  they  gave  great  occasion 
for  unpleasant  feeling  and  several  sharp  society  votes  through  the 
inhospitable  conduct  of  the  owners.  The  Society  made  several 
attempts  to  buy  them  in  but  failed  to  accomplish  it.  In  1784  it  voted 
to  convert  some  of  "the  men's  seats"  and  "the  women's  seats"  into 
pews  and  to  rent  them  annually,  reserving  the  right  to  fill  them  if  the 
lessees  did  not. 

NOTE  4  (page  100). 

The  story  as  handed  down  by  tradition  is  that  the  officer  permitted 
a  cargo  of  lumber  for  the  Center  Church  to  pass  quite  readily  on 
learning  that  it  was  for  a  religious  edifice.  The  second  cargo  was 
also  passed,  but  with  some  suspicion,  on  the  assurance  that  it  was  for 
another  church;  but  when  a  third  cargo  intended  for  Trinity  appeared 
with  the  story  that  it  was  for  a  Church  of  England  church  he  was 
found  very  difficult  to  persuade,  but  finally  yielded  with  the  compli- 
ment quoted  in  the  text.  Since  this  paper  was  written,  however,  Mr. 
E.  C.  Beecher  has  found  and  printed  some  documents  which  show  that 
permission  to  convey  the  lumber  for  Trinity  was  obtained  from  Capt. 
Paget  before  it  was  shipped. 

NOTE  5  (page  106). 

Dr.  Bacon  says  that  the  spire  of  the  first  Trinity  Church  was  sur- 
mounted by  a  crown  which  remained  until  the  removal  of  the  church 
in  1817.  A  picture  of  the  church  which  was  taken  after  1813  shows  no 
such  decoration. 

NOTE  6  (page  107). 

Cold  churches  before  the  present  century  were  not  exclusively  a 
Puritan  institution.  Churches  were  not  then  warmed  in  England  for 
the  same  reason  which  applied  here,  viz.,  there  were  no  means  of  doing 
it.  Fire-places  were  impracticable  and  stoves  had  not  come  into  use. 
It  was  not  until  a  later  period  that  freezing  during  divine  service  was 
made  a  matter  of  principle. 


FIRST   TRINITY   CHURCH. 
Built  1753— Removed  1817. 
•yrary  Painting  in  possession  of  Trinity  Parish 


IV. 

THE  GREEN  AS  A  FIELD  OF  MILITARY  PARADES 
AND  COUNCILS. 

In  the  memorial  window  which  adorns  the  west  wall  of 
the  Center  Church,  the  artist  has  introduced  among  the 
typical  figures  surrounding  the  preacher,  that  of  a  soldier 
in  armor.  The  representation  is  appropriate,  not  merely  as 
a  feature  of  the  scene  depicted  and  with  relation  to  the  few 
years  immediately  following  the  settlement  of  New  Haven, 
but  for  the  more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half  which  have 
since  elapsed.  During  the  whole  period  of  its  history,  not 
a  generation  has  passed  away  without  beholding  the  soldier 
armed  and  enrolled  for  actual  conflict,  marching  forth  from 
our  public  square.  As  introductory,  therefore,  to  the  mili- 
tary records  of  the  Green,  let  me  briefly  recapitulate  the 
successive  wars  in  which  New  Haven  has  borne  an  active 
part,  and  to  which  successively  for  more  than  two  hundred 
years  it  has  sent  forth  its  soldiers  from  the  market  place. 

For  the  first  twenty  years  after  1638,  the  military  force  of 
the  colony  was  kept  in  constant  readiness  for  active  service, 
and  was  frequently  drawn  upon  to  aid  in  quelling  Indian 
hostilities  and  disturbances.  During  the  same  period,  also, 
there  was  a  standing  controversy,  always  verging  on  war, 
with  the  Dutch  at  New  Netherlands,  and  in  1653,  England 
being  then  at  war  with  Holland,  New  Haven  assisted  in 
organizing  a  hostile  expedition  against  these  neighbors, 
which  was  only  prevented  from  moving  by  the  conclusion 
of  peace  in  Europe.  In  1673,  another  expedition  was 
made  ready  against  the  Dutch,  to  which  New  Haven  con- 
tributed its  quota  of  men,  but  again  peace  was  declared  in 
time  to  prevent  its  departure.  Two  years  later  came  King 
Philip's  war,  with  subsequent  Indian  hostilities  not  repressed 
for  several  years.  From  1689  to  1697  was  the  war  known 


118  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

to  our  forefathers  as  "King  William's  war;"  the  first  of  the 
long  series  of  French  and  Indian  wars  which  harassed  New 
England  for  more  than  half  a  century.  In  1702  came  the 
second  of  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  commonly  desig- 
nated "Queen  Anne's  war,"  which  lasted  till  1711.  In  1739 
began  "King  George's  war"  with  Spain,  in  which  France 
joined  in  in  1744,  and  which  continued  till  1748.  In  1754 
commenced  what  our  grandfathers  called  "The  Old  French 
war"  to  distinguish  it  from  the  two  subsequent  wars  with 
England,  all  of  which  were  still  fresh  in  their  memories  or 
traditions.  This  lasted  till  1763.  The  Revolution  fol- 
lowed in  1775  and  ended  in  1783.  Then  ensued  a  period 
of  twenty-nine  years,  the  most  of  which  (from  1798  to  1812) 
could  scarcely  be  called  years  of  peace,  since  an  embroilment 
little  short  of  actual  warfare  continually  existed  against  both 
France  and  Great  Britain,  culminating  in  war  with  Great 
Britain  in  1812.  In  1815  began  thirty  years  of  peace, 
except  for  hostilities  waged  against  Indian  tribes,  lasting 
until  the  Mexican  war  commenced  in  1845.  This  ended  in 
1848,  and  hardly  thirteen  years  were  suffered  to  elapse  before 
the  great  rebellion  drove  the  nation  into  fratricidal  strife. 
Thus  every  generation  in  our  history  has  been  called  to  drink 
more  or  less  frequently  and  deeply  from  the  bloody  cup  of 
war.  Since  the  last  shot  in  the  rebellion  was  fired,  thirty 
years  of  peace  have  barely  passed  away,  and  again  the 
shadow  of  war  returns  to  hover  over  our  land.*  Let  us 
hope  that  out  of  the  darkness  may  arise  a  new  light — the 
light  of  arbitration  in  all  national  disputes,  and  the  dawning 
of  a  better  day.  May  demoniac  war  be  buried  in  the  grave 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  when  the  new-born  twentieth 
smiles  upon  the  world,  may  its  message  from  heaven  to  all 
mankind  be  "Peace." 

Peace!  and  no  longer  from  its  brazen  portals 

The  blasts  of  war's  harsh  organ  shake  the  skies! 
But  beautiful  as  songs  of  the  immortals 
The  holy  melodies  of  love  arise! 

*  See  Note  i  at  the  end  of  this  Paper. 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES    AND    COUNCILS.        119 


Early  Military  Regulations. 

What  military  organization  was  maintained  in  New 
Haven  Colony  during  the  first  year  of  its  existence  is 
unknown.  The  isolated  situation  of  the  settlement,  within 
easy  reach  of  the  powerful  and  restless  tribes  of  eastern 
Connecticut  on  one  side  and  of  eastern  New  York  on  the 
other,  to  say  nothing  of  the  less  dangerous  aboriginals  in 
its  own  neighborhood,  no  doubt  caused  a  degree  of  war- 
like preparation  and  alertness  to  be  maintained.  It  is  cer- 
tain that,  in  view  of  such  necessity,  the  settlers  had  been 
careful  to  bring  with  them  from  Boston  several  veterans 
of  previous  Indian  wars,  and  after  the  civil  government  had 
been  established,  these  were  formally  invested  with  military 
commands.  The  first  act  of  the  Colonial  government  was 
to  decapitate  an  Indian  ;  its  second  was  to  begin  a  meeting- 
house and  the  third  to  organize  a  military  force. 

On  the  25th  of  November,  1639,  it  was  ordered  "that 
every  one  that  beares  armes  shall  be  compleately  furnished 
with  armes — viz:  a  muskett,  a  sword,  bandoliers,  a  rest,  a 
pound  of  powder,  20  bulletts  fitted  to  their  muskett,  or  four 
pounds  of  pistoll  shott  or  swan  shott  at  least,  and  be  ready 
to  show  them  in  the  markett  place  upon  Monday,  the  i6th 
of  this  month  [meaning  the  month  following]  before  Capt. 
Turner  and  Lieut.  Seely  under  penalty  of  2Os  fine  for 
default  or  absence."  The  review  and  inspection  which 
took  place  under  this  order,  December  16,  1639,  begins  the 
military  history  of  the  Green,  and  also  the  history  of  the 
Second  Regiment  of  the  Connecticut  National  Guard. 
The  force  then  organized  was  known  for  many  years  as 
"the  train  band,"  and  numbered  in  the  beginning  about 
two  hundred  men.  It  was  at  first  divided  into  four  squad- 
rons, each  under  the  command  of  a  sergeant;  the  com- 
missioned officers  being  a  captain,  a  lieutenant,  and  an 
antient  or  standard  bearer.  Every  man  was  required  to 
supply  himself  with  some  kind  of  a  shooting  iron,  whether 


120  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

matchlock  or  firelock,  with  all  appurtenances  complete,  and 
to  keep  the  same  in  perfect  condition.  The  town  owned  a 
supply  of  pikes,  which  it  kept  in  a  chest  in  the  meeting- 
house, while  several  barrels  of  powder  with  other  military 
property  were  stowed  away  in  the  prison.  Uniforms  there 
were  none  at  first,  though  probably  the  officers  wore  the 
helmet  and  breastplate  of  the  period,  but  in  1643  the  Court, 
in  view  of  impending  Indian  hostilities,  ordered  "that  every 
famyly  within  this  plantacion  shall  have  a  coate  of  cotton 
woole,  well  and  substantially  made  so  as  itt  may  be  fitt  for 
service,  and  that  in  convenient  time  the  taylours  see  it  be 
done."  These  coats  were  intended  as  a  defensive  armor 
against  Indian  arrows,  but  whether  they  proved  as  useful 
as  they  must  have  been  ornamental  does  not  appear.  It 
was  not  long,  however,  before  the  Indians  were  supplied 
with  muskets,  which  so  "knocked  the  stuffing"  out  of  the 
coats  that  in  1673  the  town  voted  to  sell  its  whole  supply 
for  what  they  would  bring. 

The  first  commander  of  the  New  Haven  army  was  Capt. 
Nathaniel  Turner,  who  in  1640  was  chosen  by  the  General 
Court  "to  be  Captain  and  to  have  the  command  and  order- 
ing of  all  martial  affairs  of  the  Plantation."  He  held 
this  office  until  1645,  when  he  departed  for  England  in 
Lamberton's  ship,  which  was  never  afterwards  heard  from. 
On  his  departure  Mr.  Malbone  was  chosen  to  fill  his  place 
during  his  absence,  Robert  Seely  was  appointed  lieutenant 
and  Francis  Newman  "antient,"  or  ensign.  Four  ser- 
geants and  four  corporals  were  also  chosen.  In  selecting 
officers  our  pious  forefathers  rated  church  membership  as 
the  most  important  qualification  for  military  command. 
The  General  Court  in  1661  declared:  "We  cannot  be  per- 
suaded to  commit  our  more  mighty  civil  or  military  trusts 
into  the  hands  of  either  a  crafty  Ahithopell  or  a  bloody 
Joab,  though  such  should  seem  to  be  better  accomplished 
with  either  natural  or  acquired  abilities  above  those  that 
are  as  well  lawful  as  intituled  freemen." 


THE   TROWBRIDGE   MEMORIAL   WINDOW 
In  west  wall  of  the  Center  Church. 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES    AND    COUNCILS.        121 

There  was  one  conspicuous  military  personage,  however, 
for  whom  neither  piety  nor  orthodoxy  was  indispensable. 
This  was  the  drummer,  who  in  his  military  capacity  com- 
prised in  his  single  person  an  entire  regimental  band.  As 
a  civil  functionary  holding  the  office  of  town  drummer,  he 
was  still  more  multifarious,  being  town  clock,  meeting- 
house bell,  and  public  morning  rooster  all  in  one.  His 
duties  were  to  attend  all  squadron  and  general  trainings, 
to  beat  the  call  for  all  meetings  of  the  General  Court,  and 
for  all  religious  gatherings  on  Sundays  and  week  days, 
to  summon  the  watch  at  sunset,  and  to  beat  a  reveille  "half 
an  hour  before  day  in  the  market  place  and  some  of  the 
streets."  To  promote  punctuality  and  social  enjoyment  in 
his  use  of  the  last  named  privilege  the  watch  was  ordered  "to 
call  him  an  hour  before  day,  and  to  walk  with  him  as  a 
guard  while  he  continues  beating."  The  most  distinguished 
incumbent  of  this  responsible  office  was  Robert  Bassett, 
a  jolly  Yorkshireman,  whose  proclivity  for  jovial  com- 
panionship and  the  use  of  exhilarants  other  than  the  spirit- 
stirring  drum  brought  him  occasionally  before  the  magis- 
trates' courts,  where  he  was  wont  "to  face  the  music"  in  a 
somewhat  sturdy  manner.  The  authorities  were  compelled 
to  treat  him  gingerly  lest  an  interruption  of  his  official 
functions  should  derange  the  whole  civil  and  military 
machinery  of  the  commonwealth;  but  his  growing  incom- 
patibility of  temperament  with  "a  state  whose  design  was 
religion"  led  him  to  migrate  to  Stamford,  where  he  speedily 
joined  with  other  malcontents  in  drumming  up  opposition 
to  the  established  order  of  churchly  government.  For 
this  he  was  arrested  and  brought  to  trial  at  New  Haven  as 
a  seditious  conspirator,  and  incarcerated  in  the  prison  house 
directly  over  the  powder  magazine.  There,  with  neither 
fire,  pipe  nor  toddy  to  sustain  his  zeal,  his  ardor  as  a  con- 
stitutional expounder  soon  cooled,  and  on  making  a  humble 
submission  he  was  released  with  a  warning.  The  next 
year,  partly  from  policy  and  partly  on  account  of  his 
thumping  professional  merits,  he  was  appointed  chief  drum- 


122  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

mer  of  the  forces  then  being  raised  against  the  Dutch.  The 
appointment  had  at  least  the  effect  of  keeping  him  quiet, 
and  thereafter  Robert  bobs  up  in  the  records  no  more. 

Among  the  martial  materials  owned  by  the  town  were 
half  a  dozen  small  iron  cannons,  which  had  been  brought 
from  Boston,  and  are  respectfully  referred  to  in  the  records 
as  "the  Great  Gunnes."*  In  1645  a  volunteer  artillery 
company  was  formed  and  the  Court  ordered  that  "Henry 
Peck  and  Old  Bassett  should  sett  the  Great  Gunnes  upon 
good  strong  carryadges."  Three  of  these  "Gunnes"  appear 
to  have  been  kept  on  the  market  place  near  the  watch- 
house  and  presumably  the  artillery  company  were  exercised 
in  the  use  of  them.  All  soldiers  were  also  trained  to  use 
the  pikes,  which  were  kept  "in  the  meeting-house  chest" 
and  in  broad-sword  and  cudgel  practice.  A  shooting  range 
was  established  at  Oystershell  Fields,  which  was  a  tract 
of  40  acres  east  of  Union  street,  bounded  southerly  by  the 
water,  and  prizes  were  established  for  the  best  marksmen. 

Training  days  were  frequent  and  attendance  was  encour- 
aged by  fines,  which  were  unflinchingly  levied  and  collected. 
As  other  inducements  it  was  ordered  that  the  soldiers,  in 
the  intervals  of  drill,  "doe  exercise  themselves  in  running, 
wrastling,  leaping  and  the  like  manly  exercises,"  and  to 
complete  their  round  of  hilarity  it  was  requested  that  "the 
ruling  elders  should  speake  to  the  souldiers  something  by 
way  of  exhortation  to  quicken  them  to  a  conscientious 
attendance  to  their  duty."  After  the  military  exercises  of 
the  day  were  over,  and  the  elder  had  concluded  his  pious 
exhortation  and  the  men  had  run  and  wrastled  and  leaped 
to  the  full  extent  of  their  legal  obligations,  they  were 
permitted  to  indulge  in  the  more  frivolous  amusements  of 
"stole  bale,  nine  pins,  quaites  and  such  like  games"  if  they 
had  time  or  spirit  left  to  do  so. 

*  See  Note  2. 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES    AND    COUNCILS.        123 

The  Colony  Colors. 

Although  an  "antient"  or  standard-bearer  was  from  the 
first  appointed  by  the  General  Court  both  for  the  infantry 
and  artillery  companies,  there  were,  for  some  reason 
unknown,  no  colors  provided  for  several  years.  In  May, 
1647,  Capt.  Malbone  "propounded  to  the  Court  that  seeing 
the  towne  had  no  cullors  for  the  Traine  Band  that  therefore 
the  towne  would  pay  for,  part  of  them  and  let  the  artillery 
have  the  use  of  them."  The  proposal,  however,  did  not 
meet  with  favor,  and  "it  was  respited."  The  artillery 
company  therefore  with  proper  spirit  purchased  colors  at 
its  own  expense  and  used  them  in  the  town  trainings,  and 
in  1648  the  town  adopted  them  as  the  town  colors  and  paid 
their  cost.  Why  this  delay  and  hesitation  on  the  part  of 
the  colony  in  adopting  military  colors  and  what  were  the 
colors  finally  adopted?  The  answer  to  these  questions  is 
perhaps  connected  with  a  bit  of  Massachusetts  history. 

Three  years  before  the  New  Haven  colonists  left  Boston, 
John  Endicott  had  cut  the  cross  out  of  the  king's  colors 
borne  by  the  colonial  troops,  as  a  papistical  emblem,  and 
though  the  magistrates  disapproved  the  act  at  first  they 
afterwards  accepted  it,  and  the  cross  was  left  out  of  the 
Massachusetts  colonial  standard  until  1651.  At  that  date 
the  Puritans  had  come  into  control  of  the  English  govern- 
ment, and  as  they  had  not  seen  fit  to  alter  the  national 
ensign,  the  prejudice  in  Massachusetts  abated,  and  the 
General  Court  "considering  that  the  English  ensign  is 
distinctive  of  nationality  and  as  such  necessary  to  be  recog- 
nized and  used,"  voted  that  the  "English  colors  should  be 
raised  on  the  castle  till  the  state  of  England  shall  alter  the 
same  which  we  much  desier."  New  Haven  Colony  was  in 
close  political  and  religious  sympathy  with  Massachusetts, 
and  possibly  the  authorities  prior  to  1647  were  in  doubt 
whether  to  adopt  "the  King's  colors"  with  the  cross  or 
without  it,  and  so  deferred  action  till  the  artillery  company 


124  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

settled  the  question  for  itself.  Presumably  the  standard 
adopted  by  the  company  was  the  Union  ensign  of  Great 
Britain,  established  in  1606,  consisting  of  the  conjoined 
crosses  of  St.  George  and  St.  Andrew  on  a  blue  ground. 
Presumably  also  the  cross  was  left  in,  as  we  have  no  intima- 
tion to  the  contrary.  We  know  that  in  the  same  year 
(1647)  Gov.  Eaton  caused  the  king's  arms  to  be  carved  in 
wood  and  set  up  on  the  seashore  as  a  warning  against 
encroachments  by  the  Dutch.  He  would  not  be  likely  to 
mutilate  the  device  in  such  a  case,  and  possibly  the  necessity 
for  a  colonial  sign-board  may  have  influenced  the  decision 
with  respect  to  the  colonial  banner. 

In  1656  a  cavalry  corps  numbering  sixteen  troopers  was 
organized  in  New  Haven  Colony.  Of  these  New  Haven 
furnished  six  men  and  horses  and  the  other  towns  of  the 
colony  the  rest.  The  troopers  of  each  plantation  were 
required  to  exercise  themselves  and  their  horses  in  mili- 
tary movements  at  home  and  to  meet  in  general  training  at 
New  Haven  four  times  a  year.  This  company  does  not 
appear  to  have  proved  a  success  and  was  disbanded  in  1664. 

The  train  band  of  New  Haven  was  not  allowed  to  rust  in 
idleness,  and  the  Green  as  a  field  of  Mars  was  put  to  abund- 
ant use.  Squadron  or  company  trainings  were  had  on  the 
market  place  at  first  every  week,  and  afterwards  every  two 
months.  General  reviews  were  held  six  times  a  year  in 
which  between  two  hundred  and  three  hundred  soldiers 
paraded  as  infantry  and  artillery,  to  say  nothing  of  the  sixteen 
rampant  troopers  on  their  bucolic  steeds,  all  fully  arrayed 
in  warlike  panoply.  As  all  the  infantry  and  artillery  com- 
panies were  well  armed,  drilled  and  disciplined,  the  Green 
on  these  occasions  must  have  presented  a  martial  appear- 
ance. In  addition  to  these  trainings  and  parades  one  com- 
pany of  soldiers  was  required  to  attend  public  worship  every 
Sabbath,  lecture,  and  fast  day  with  arms  complete.  The 
standing  order  was  that  "they  be  at  the  meeting-house 
before  the  second  drum  hath  left  beating,  their  gunnes 
ready  charged  with  a  fitt  proportion  of  match  for  match 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES    AND    COUNCILS.        125 

locks  and  flints  ready  fitted  in  their  firelock  pieces  and 
shott  and  powder  for  five  or  six  charges  at  the  least."  If 
this  order  was  complied  with  there  must  have  been  on  each 
Sunday  at  the  meeting-house  an  armed  guard  of  at  least 
fifty  men.  Seats  were  provided  for  them  near  the  door. 
Sentinels  were  posted  in  the  market  place  and  patrols 
walked  the  streets.  And  it  was  ordered  that  "the  door  of 
the  meeting-house  next  the  souldiers'  seats  should  be  kept 
clear  of  women  and  children  sitting  there,  that  if  there  be 
occasion  for  the  souldiers  to  goe  suddenly  forth  they  may 
have  a  free  passage." 

Attendance  at  the  meeting-house  must  have  been  the 
hardest  part  of  the  soldiers'  duties,  and  doubtless  they  often 
fervently  wished  for  a  blood-curdling  war  whoop  under  the 
windows  as  an  agreeable  variation  of  the  service.  Failing 
in  this  relief,  they  occasionally  indulged  in  a  little  private 
warfare  among  themselves.  In  June,  1662,  William  Payne 
"informed  the  court  that  at  the  last  day  of  humiliation  he 
saw  great  disorders  in  the  souldiers'  seats,  laughing, 
struggling  and  pulling  of  a  hatte  from  one  to  another,  and 
also  he  heard  that  Mrs.  Goodyear's  Boy  had  his  head  broke 
that  day."  Brother  Lines  confirmed  the  dreadful  tale,  and 
"Brother  Elsy  said  that  a  woman  did  so  speake  that  she 
never  saw  such  disorders,  and  that  she  doubted  that  the 
wrath  of  God  would  be  brought  upon  us."  The  Court, 
greatly  scandalized,  made  rigid  inquiry.  Sam  Potter,  one 
of  the  inculpated  warriors,  was  charged  with  having  been 
asleep,  and  when  awakened  by  John  Hitchcock,  acknowl- 
edging the  attention  by  a  vigorous  kick.  Sam  Potter 
replied  that  "he  was  not  asleep,  but  that  not  feeling  well 
he  was  leaning  over  the  bench  and  that  John  Hitchcock 
knocked  him  many  times,  and  Stephen  Parsons  threw 
pieces  of  lime  at  him  which  did  provoke  him."  Consider- 
able testimony  having  been  taken,  Sam  Potter  was  told  by 
the  Court  that  it  did  not  plainly  appear  whether  he  was 
asleep  or  not,  but  that  he  should  avenge  himself  by  kicking 
was  very  evill,  though  it  was  seen  that  he  was  little  sensible 


126  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

of  it."  At  this  hint  Sam  penitently  professed  that  "he  was 
sorry  he  should  so  carry  it  as  to  kick  him  and  desired  to  see 
his  evill,  and  was  sensible  of  his  sinn,"  and  concluded  with 
the  unmilitary  vow  that  "for  all  time  to  come  he  should 
never  lift  up  hand  or  foot  against  any."  Whereupon  "the 
Court  was  pleased  to  pass  it  by."  Stephen  Parsons,  how- 
ever, who  acknowledged  "that  he  did  lie  along  the  seat  in 
an  uncomely  manner"  and  "that  there  was  striving  between 
John  Clarke  and  himself  aboute  a  hatte  in  time  of  divine 
service,"  was  roundly  lectured,  and  two  others  were  sen- 
tenced to  be  corporally  whipped.  At  the  intercession  of 
friends,  however,  and  on  promises  of  future  good  behavior, 
the  punishment  was  remitted. 

The  Town  Watch. 

The  regular  duties  of  the  militia  were  not  limited  to 
parades,  reviews  and  attendance  upon  public  worship.  The 
whole  force  was  divided  into  night  watches  of  six  men  each, 
besides  a  master  of  each  watch;  the  number  being  increased 
in  times  of  special  danger.  Every  night  at  sundown  the 
drum  was  beaten  and  within  half  an  hour  the  master  of  the 
watch  must  be  "at  the  Court  of  Guard"  (meaning  the  room 
which  was  used  for  headquarters  in  the  watch-house)  and 
the  rest  of  the  watch  within  one  hour  after  sunset.  The 
watchmen  were  required  to  patrol  the  streets  in  couples, 
to  arrest  all  suspicious  or  disorderly  persons  and  to  give 
an  alarm  in  case  of  the  approach  of  enemies  or  in  case  of 
fire.  It  was  found  that  patrolling  the  streets  on  dark  nights 
was  attended  with  serious  damage  to  shins,  and  numerous 
breaches  of  the  third  commandment  in  consequence  of 
obstructions  left  on  the  walks,  and  in  1647  a  town  meeting 
"propounded  that  men  would  clear  wood  and  stones  from 
their  pale  sides  that  the  watchmen  on  dark  nights  may  safely 
walk  the  rounds  without  being  hurt."  This  was  the  first 
sidewalk  ordinance  in  New  Haven,  and  it  had  the  distin- 
guished merit  of  being  a  sensible  one. 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES    AND    COUNCILS.        127 

The  watch-house  was  located  about  opposite  the  present 
site  of  Farnam  Hall.  It  was  commodious  and  had  a  fire- 
place in  it,  and  became  a  favorite  lounging  place  of  nights, 
so  that  in  1652  the  Court  passed  an  order  "forbidding  all 
persons  to  come  there  after  the  watch  is  sett,  as  is  the 
manner  of  some  to  doe,  whereby  they  idle  away  the  time 
and  hinder  the  watch  in  their  service."  Sleeping  in  the 
watch-house  was  strictly  forbidden  and  was  punished  by 
fine  when  found  out,  as  it  occasionally  was.  An  extract 
from  the  records  bearing  on  this  point  is  interesting, 
especially  as  it  gives  a  glimpse  of  the  Green  as  it  appeared 
on  a  moonlight  night  in  May,  1653.  In  November  of  that 
year,  "Sam  Hodgkins  complayned  of  ye  watch  that  one 
night,  about  ye  beginning  of  May  last,  he  came  from  John 
Harriman's  late  in  ye  night  where  he  had  been  grinding 
malt  [John  Harriman's  was  about  where  Traeger's  Hotel 
now  stands  on  Chapel  street,  and  Sam  was  crossing  the 
Green  toward  Elm  street],  and  when  he  came  aboute  ye 
great  gunnes,  ye  moon  shining  bright,  he  saw  ye  sentinel 
stand  at  ye  watch-house  corner;  he  marvelled  that  he  spake 
nott,  so  he  passed  on;  but  when  he  was  almost  at  Mr. 
Goodenhouse's  [on  Elm  street  near  College]  he  thought 
he  had  not  done  well  that  he  spake  nott  to  them;  there- 
fore went  back  and  so  neare  ye  sentinel  as  he  thought 
he  might  have  struck  him  before  he  spake,  and  reproved 
him  for  his  carelessness  in  these  dangerous  times;  but  he 
marvelled  that  upon  his  discourse  with  ye  sentinel  he  heard 
no  stirring  in  ye  watch-house;  therefore  went  in  and  found 
John  Winton,  ye  master,  asleep  in  ye  chair  and  ye  men 
snortinge  that  he  asked  if  they  were  driving  hogges."  The 
charge  of  being  asleep  was  vigorously  denied  by  the  master 
and  all  his  men,  and  as  Sam's  reputation  was  unsavory  and 
his  motives  in  making  the  complaint  suspicious,  the  Court 
found  the  charge  "not  proved."  The  persons  implicated, 
however,  kept  an  eye  on  Mr.  Hodgkins,  and  it  was  not 
many  months  before  he  was  "complayned  of  because  he 
doth  not  attend  ye  public  ordinances  on  ye  Sabbath  days 


128  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

nor  attend  ye  order  of  ye  towne  in  bringing  his  armes  to 
do  service  as  the  rest  of  ye  squadron,  but  it  is  said  stayeth 
at  home  and  sleepeth  away  his  time."  The  record  adds 
that  "he  made  sundry  excuses,  but  all  would  not  clear  him, 
wherefore  he  was  seriously  warned  to  take  heed  of  this 
disorder,  for  hereafter  if  complaints  goe  on  of  this  kind  he 
will  agayne  be  warned  to  ye  court  and  find  more  sharp  pro- 
ceeding than  now  he  doth." 


Military  Achievements  of  New  Haven  Colony. 

Of  actual  warfare,  whether  within  or  outside  of  its  own 
borders,  New  Haven  Colony  before  its  union  with  Con- 
necticut saw  but  little.  The  aboriginals  in  its  neighbor- 
hood were  not  at  all  dangerous,  but  the  warlike  and 
powerful  tribes  of  eastern  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island, 
the  Mohegans,  the  Niantics  and  the  Narragansetts,  con- 
tinually stirred  up  as  they  were  by  restless  agitators  like 
Uncus*  and  his  rivals  Canonicus,  Pessacus  and  other  cusses, 
kept  them  constantly  on  the  ragged  edge  of  anxiety  and  it 
was  Lo  here!  and  Lo  there!  all  the  time.  At  three  different 
times  New  Haven  joined  with  the  other  colonies  in 
organized  expeditions  against  their  red-skinned  neighbors. 
A  quota  of  six  men  was  sent  in  1644,  about  the  same  num- 
ber in  1645  an(i  sixteen  in  1654.  Besides  these  military 
enterprises,  the  colony  fitted  out  others  which  never 
marched,  the  most  important  of  which  was  one  against  the 
Dutch  in  1654,  and  to  which  this  town  contributed  fifty 
men.  The  object  of  this  expedition  was  the  capture  and 
annexation  of  Manhattan  Island.  New  Haven  was 
enthusiastic  for  consolidation,  and  there  was  every  prospect 
of  success,  when  the  movement  was  frustrated  by  the  sudden 
conclusion  of  peace  between  England  and  Holland.  It 
does  not  appear  that  our  forefathers  appointed  any  day 

*This  is  the  spelling  in  the  records.     "Uncas"  is  a  modern  form  of  the 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES   AND    COUNCILS.        129 

of  thanksgiving  for  the  blessing  of  peace,  and  the  omission 
will  be  fully  approved  of  by  some  of  us  in  the  present 
generation,  however  pacific  we  may  be  upon  general  prin- 
ciples, whose  prospective  ownership  of  New  York  ancestral 
building  lots  was  then  so  unhappily  blasted. 

After  1660  the  fear  of  Indian  hostilities  subsided,  and  in 
consequence  the  rigor  of  military  regulations  was  much 
relaxed,  and  the  town  watch  fell  into  disuse.  On  the  22d 
of  August,  1 66 1,  there  was  a  general  parade  of  the  New 
Haven  Colony  train  bands  on  the  Green  to  assist  in  the 
proclamation  of  Charles  II.  as  King  of  Great  Britain,  and 
the  English  provinces  of  North  America;  a  performance 
rather  late  in  the  day  and  more  perfunctory  than  enthusi- 
astic. In  1665  New  Haven  passed  into  the  jurisdiction  of 
Connecticut,  and  thereafter  her  military  records  became 
a  part  of  Connecticut  history. 

King  Philip's  war  began  in  1675  and  lasted  somewhat 
over  a  year,  during  which  period  New  Haven  was  kept  in 
a  constant  state  of  anxiety  and  alarm.  Frequent  calls  were 
made  upon  the  town  for  soldiers,  both  horse  and  foot.  The 
town  meetings  chiefly'  discussed  measures  of  defence. 
Palisades  were  erected  around  the  settlement;  the  meeting- 
house and  other  buildings  were  fortified,  and  a  military 
watch  re-established  in  the  market  place  and  streets. 
Sixty-three  men  were  supplied  by  New  Haven  to  the  army 
in  the  field,  with  a  horse  for  every  commisioned  officer,  and 
one  for  every  three  enlisted  men.  These  soldiers  did  gallant 
service  in  the  bloody  assault  on  Narragansett  Fort,  twenty 
being  killed  and  wounded,  besides  their  commander,  Capt. 
Seeley,  who  fell  inside  the  fort.  In  August,  1676,  a  sloop 
I  from  Rhode  Island  brought  the  joyful  news  that  Philip  was 
dead,  but  for  months  afterward  there  were  "rumors  of 
Indian  stirrings  and  a  noise  of  war  reported,"  and  the 
militia  were  ordered  to  maintain  the  watch,  and  "to  furnish 
guards  in  their  course  for  ye  Sabbath  days."  It  was  several 
years  before  the  anxiety  and  excitement  attending  Philip's 
war  were  over.  Even  as  late  as  March,  1681,  the  town 

9 


130  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

was  thrown  into  a  panic  by  news  of  "a  great  body  of  Indians 
gathered  up  Hudson  River,"  and  it  was  urged  in  town 
meeting  that  "ye  appearing  of  ye  blazing  starr  in  ye  winter 
with  ye  reports  of  gunnes  and  drums  heard  by  some,  and 
ye  earthquake  taken  notis  of  in  a  neighboring  town,  may  be 
forerunners  of  some  great  change  or  judgment  neare."  A 
committee  was  appointed  on  fortifications  and  the  watch, 
but  at  the  next  town  meeting  the  blazing  starre  and  the 
earthquake  were  exonerated  from  suspicion,  by  the  commit- 
tee's report  that  there  existed  no  real  cause  for  alarm. 

In  1690,  following  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary, 
the  first  French  and  Indian  war  commenced  from  the 
direction  of  Canada,  and  New  Haven  rose  promptly  to  the 
situation.  At  a  town  meeting  on  the  3d  of  March,  1690, 
the  military  watch  was  ordered  to  be  renewed;  the  whole 
body  of  soldiers  were  directed  to  bring  their  arms  to 
meeting  on  the  Sabbath  days;  mounted  scouts  to  be  sent 
out  daily,  and  fortifications  commenced.  It  was  also  voted 
to  draw  out  one-tenth  of  the  listed  soldiers  to  form  part  of 
a  flying  army  "to  be  commanded  by  such  officers  as  the 
Major  General  shall  appoint  with  the  approbation  of  the 
major  part  of  said  flying  army."  This  war  lasted  five  years, 
till  1697.  During  that  period  New  Haven  took  part  in 
several  abortive  expeditions  toward  Canada.  In  1697  the 
town  was  called  on  for  a  company  to  go  to  New  York  to 
defend  it  against  an  anticipated  attack  by  the  French  fleet, 
but  the  call  appears  to  have  been  countermanded. 

Another  French  and  Indian  war  broke  out  in  1702,  in 
which  New  Haven  quotas  were  called  for  at  different  times. 
In  1711  the  whole  Connecticut  contingent  of  three  hundred 
and  fifty  men,  raised  to  co-operate  in  an  attack  on  Canada, 
made  this  town  their  place  of  rendezvous.  Here  also  were 
collected  their  arms,  horses,  equipments  and  supplies,  and 
for  several  weeks  the  market  place  and  streets  were  filled 
with  the  throngs  and  bustle  of  a  military  encampment.  In 
November  news  came  of  the  failure  of  the  expedition,  but 
the  abundant  cash  which  it  had  left  behind  it  in  New  Haven 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES   AND    COUNCILS.        131 

gave  a  silver  lining  to  the  cloud,  and  lent  on  the  whole  an 
aspect  of  cheerfulness  to  the  situation. 

In  1739  again  war's  trumpet  sounded  across  the  market 
place,  calling  for  New  Haven  troops  to  take  part  in  hostili- 
ties between  the  mother  country  and  Spain.  The  General 
Assembly  of  that  year  organized  the  militia  force  of  Con- 
necticut into  thirteen  regiments;  the  companies  from  New 
Haven,  Branford,  Milford  and  Derby  composing  the  Second 
Regiment.  An  official  report  in  1739  shows  six  companies 
of  the  Second  Regiment  in  New  Haven,  with  a  muster  roll 
of  five  hundred  and  eighty-eight  men,  while  the  whole 
population  of  the  town  did  not  exceed  four  thousand  in 
number. 

In  the  years  1740,  1741  and  1742  volunteers  were  called 
for  to  join  the  expedition  sent  by  the  British  government 
in  Admiral  Vernon's  fleet  against  Cartagena  and  Havana. 
An  expedition  of  mournful  fame,  not  so  much  for  its  failure 
in  military  achievement  as  on  account  of  those  fearful 
ravages  of  pestilence  in  the  harbor  of  Havana,  which  the 
poet  Thompson  refers  to  in  familiar  lines: 

You  gallant  Vernon  saw 
The  miserable  scene;   and  heard  the  groans 
Of  agonizing  ships:    From  shore  to  shore 
Heard  nightly  plunged  amid  the  sullen  waves 
The  frequent  corse!     While  on  each  other  fixed 
In  sad  presage,  the  blank  assistants  seemed 
Silent  to  ask  whom  Fate  would  next  demand. 

Doubtless  the  fever-wasted  body  of  many  a  New  Haven 
boy  fed  the  sharks  along  those  fatal  shores,  for  it  is  said 
that  out  of  one  thousand  Connecticut  men  who  went  away 
not  one  hundred  ever  returned.*  Three  years  later,  how- 
ever, all  the  woe  of  this  calamitous  experience  was  forgotten 
in  the  joy  of  a  glorious  triumph.  In  1745  was  undertaken 
the  famous  expedition  against  Louisburg,  the  Colonies 
alone  originating  and  conducting  the  enterprise.  Con- 
necticut sent  eleven  hundred  men,  of  whom  New  Haven 

*  See  Note  3. 


132  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

furnished  her  proportion,  among  her  officers  being  David 
Wooster  and  Nathan  Whiting,  who  then  gained  their  first 
military  laurels.  The  Connecticut  troops  sailed  from  New 
London  in  April,  and  early  in  August  came  the  thrilling 
news  that  the  renowned  and  impregnable  fortress  was 
captured.  No  military  success  in  Colonial  history  ever 
aroused  such  joy  and  enthusiasm.  Bells  were  rung,  cannons 
fired  and  bonfires  blazed  in  the  market  place.  New  Eng- 
land rum  flowed  in  streams,  and  the  glory  of  the  achieve- 
ment continued  to  be  a  favorite  theme  for  discourse  among 
our  ancestors  for  three  generations. 

In  1748  grim-visaged  war  re-smoothed  his  wrinkled 
front,  and  left  the  land  in  quiet  for  several  years;  but  in 
1754  his  features  took  a  new  contortive  twist  and  intro- 
duced the  last  and  fiercest  of  the  French  and  Indian  wars. 
It  was  during  this  eventful  period  that  the  names  of  Wooster 
and  Whiting  were  written  large  upon  New  Haven's  roll  of 
fame  as  the  earliest  of  her  conspicuous  military  heroes. 
Our  soldiers'  monument  will  never  be  complete  till  their 
statues  stand  with  those  of  Foote  and  Terry  about  its  base 
or  take  the  place  upon  its  shaft  of  those  nondescript  animals 
which  now  adorn  it.  In  1755  Wooster  was  colonel  of  the 
Third  Connecticut  Regiment,  and  Whiting  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  Second,  both  of  which  regiments  took  part 
in  the  expedition  against  Crown  Point. 

It  was  on  the  25th  of  May  of  that  year  that  Whiting  had 
his  command  drawn  up  on  the  Green  in  front  of  Mr.  Noyes' 
Meeting-house  ready  for  their  departure.  One  thing  only 
they  lacked  to  give  them  a  satisfactory  send-off,  and  that 
was  a  rousing  sermon.  In  this  they  were  not  disappointed, 
for  Rev.  Isaac  Stiles  then  preached  a  discourse,  of  which 
an  imperfect  copy  is  found  in  the  College  Library,  and 
which  was  fitted  to  stir  the  blood  in  the  rafters  of  the 
meeting-house.  In  a  strain  of  fiery  eloquence  he  conjured 
the  soldiers  to  "file  off  the  rust  of  their  firelocks,  that 
exquisitely  contrived  and  tremendous  instrument  of  death." 
Also  to  "attend  to  the  several  beats  of  that  great  warlike 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES    AND    COUNCILS.        133 

instrument  the  drum,  and  to  the  language  of  the  shrill,  high- 
sounding  trumpet,  that  noble,  reviving  and  animating 
sound."  He  painted  a  glowing  vision  of  their  prospective 
achievements.  "Fierce  as  young  lions  with  undaunted 
courage  they  wave  their  flaming  faulchions,  which  make 
frightful  circles  in  the  air;  and  the  battered  arms,  bleeding 
sculls  and  cloven  trunks  of  the  slain,  together  with  the 
dolorous  groans  and  bellowing  of  the  wounded,  witness  that 
these  were  not  wooden  swords,  but  made  of  triple  steel." 
He  depicts  their  Papist  foes  smitten  by  guilty  consciences, 
beginning  to  waver,  but  "the  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ 
all  the  while  shine  with  all  the  beauty  and  luster  that  inward 
sanctity  and  outward  charms  lend  to  the  heroes'  look;  and 
fierce  as  a  whirlwind  down  they  drive  the  faithful  edge  of 
their  swords  tearing" — but  here  the  tattered  copy  of  the 
sermon  gives  out  as  if  it  could  no  longer  hold  together 
under  the  strain  of  so  much  eloquence;  and  we  can  only 
presume  that  the  preacher  in  closing  assured  his  hearers,  in 
the  \vords  of  a  modern  orator,  that  "the  hand  of  Provi- 
dence would  smile  on  their  cause  and  the  God  of  victory 
would  perch  upon  their  banners." 

Happily  in  that  campaign,  victory  did  perch  upon  their 
banners.  It  was  the  same  campaign  in  which  Gen.  Phineas 
Lyman  of  Connecticut,  after  the  commander-in-chief, 
William  Johnson,  had  left  the  field,  gained  the  splendid 
victory  at  Fort  Edward,  for  which  Johnson  was  knighted, 
while  Lyman  was  not  even  mentioned  in  his  dispatches. 
In  this  fight,  Whiting  also  showed  conspicuous  skill  and 
bravery,  and  though  he  received  no  recognition  from  the 
British  government,  he  was  promoted  by  the  General 
Assembly  to  a  colonelcy  in  the  following  year.  As  colonel 
of  the  Second  Regiment,  he  took  part  in  the  campaigns  of 
1758,  '59,  '60  and  '61.  Wooster,  during  the  same  period, 
was  in  command  of  the  Third  Regiment,  and  many  of  the 
officers  and  men  under  both  commanders  were  from  New 
Haven  and  the  neighboring  towns. 


134:  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

During  the  old  French  war,  the  ecclesiastical  conflict 
between  the  Old-lights  and  New-lights  was  raging  in  New 
Haven,  and  after  Mr.  Noyes'  Meeting-house  had  covered 
itself  with  glory  by  the  sermon  of  Mr.  Stiles  to  Col. 
Whiting's  regiment,  it  was  no  more  than  proper  that  the 
Blue  Meeting-house,  which  Col.  Wooster  attended,  should 
also  have  its  innings.  Accordingly  in  April,  1759,  Col. 
Wooster,  on  the  day  of  marching  with  his  command  to  join 
Amherst's  expedition  against  Canada,  assembled  his  troops 
on  the  Green  and  led  them  into  the  Blue  Meeting-house 
on  the  corner  of  Elm  and  Church  streets,  where  they  were 
addressed  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bird  on  "The  Importance  of  the 
Divine  Presence  with  our  Hosts."  The  sermon  did  not 
make  so  much  havoc  with  the  enemy  as  that  of  Mr.  Stiles, 
and  consequently  the  campaign  was  much  longer  and  more 
arduous,  but  it  at  last  was  crowned  with  success;  and  the 
French  power  in  Canada  had  been  practically  overthrown 
before  the  New  Haven  troops  returned  and  were  mustered 
out  in  the  market  place. 

On  the  23d  of  January,  1761,  two  troops  of  horse  and 
four  companies  of  foot  were  drawn  up  "on  the  Great  Square 
before  the  Town  House,"  which  stood  near  the  corner  of 
Elm  and  College  streets.  To  this  place  of  parade,  escorted 
by  Capt.  Peck's  company  of  foot,  came  "His  Honor,  the 
Governor,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  Council,  with  many 
other  gentlemen  of  distinction,  and  there  in  the  audience  of 
a  numerous  concourse  the  accession  of  His  Sacred  Majesty, 
George  the  Third,  was  formally  proclaimed  amid  three 
general  huzzas  and  a  royal  salute  of  twenty-one  cannon." 
The  change  of  sovereign  did  not  bring  any  relaxation  of 
the  war;  expeditions  followed  in  1761,  1762  and  1763,  in 
all  of  which  Cols.  Whiting  and  Wooster  and  other  New 
Haven  soldiers  bore  honorable  part. 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES    AND    COUNCILS.        135 


During  and  after  the  Revolution. 

After  1763  peace  smiled  again,  and  the  Green  had  rest 
from  war  till  1775.  In  April  of  that  year,  news  of  the 
battle  of  Lexington  and  Concord  arrived — those  lively 
international  athletic  contests  in  which,  as  in  the  contests 
of  last  fall  in  New  York,  the  Yankees  excelled  in  putting 
the  shot  and  the  Britons  in  long-distance  running.  The 
citizens  at  once  assembled  in  the  Brick  Meeting-house  to 
consider  the  situation.  Roger  Sherman  was  chosen  Mod- 
erator and  a  warm  debate  ensued.  A  Committee  of  Safety 
was  appointed  and  before  night  the  Second  Company  of 
Foot  Guards,  then  just  organized,  had  held  a  meeting  and, 
with  that  alacrity  for  excursion  trips  which  it  still  retains, 
had  voted  to  proceed  immediately  to  Boston.  The  next 
morning,  fully  armed  and  equipped,  they  assembled  on  the 
Green.  There  were  prayers  and  an  address  by  Rev. 
Jonathan  Edwards,  and  then  Capt.  Arnold  requested  the 
Selectmen  to  furnish  a  supply  of  powder  for  the  expedition. 
Those  officials  were  disposed  to  demur,  but  on  his  assur- 
ance that  he  would  leave  town  as  soon  as  he  got  it  they 
promptly  handed  him  the  keys  of  the  powder  house,  and 
begged  him  to  help  himself.  The  trip  of  the  Guards  to 
Boston  was  a  great  success.  They  were  much  admired 
in  all  the  places  through  which  they  passed,  and  after  their 
arrival  at  the  front,  when  on  one  occasion  they  pierced 
the  enemy's  lines,  under  a  flag  of  truce,  an  English  officer 
warmly  declared  that  there  was  no  body  of  men  who  made 
so  fine  an  appearance  in  the  British  army. 

Whatever  hesitation  may  have  been  felt  at  first  by  the 
town  with  regard  to  an  immediate  and  energetic  support 
of  the  patriot  cause  quickly  disappeared.  New  military 
companies  were  speedily  organized;  an  artillery  company, 
two  companies  of  householders  and  a  company  of  Yale 
College  students.  Committees  of  public  safety  and  of 
correspondence  were  formed  and  sat  in  continuous  session; 


136  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

and  the  Court  House  was  kept  alive  for  months  with  fre- 
quent town  meetings,  at  which  vote  followed  vote  to 
procure  arms,  equipments  and  powder;  to  establish  bea- 
cons, to  fortify  Black  Rock  and  other  places,  and  requesting 
all  persons  who  held  to  the  king  to  leave  town  immediately. 
In  June,  Col.  Wooster's  regiment  paraded  on  the  Green 
under  orders  for  New  York,  and  their  commander  having 
failed  to  find  a  minister  to  conduct  a  religious  service, 
marched  his  men  into  the  Blue  Meeting-house  and  offered 
prayers  himself  for  the  success  of  their  cause  and  their 
enterprise.  In  July,  Gen.  Washington,  in  company  with 
Gen.  Lee,  on  his  way  through  town  to  take  command  of 
the  American  army,  stopped  over  night  at  Mr.  Beers' 
tavern  on  the  corner  of  College  and  Chapel  streets.  Noah 
Webster  informs  us  that  "the  next  morning  the  generals 
reviewed  the  students'  military  company  on  the  Green  and 
expressed  their  surprise  and  gratification  at  the  expertness 
with  which  they  performed  their  exercises.  The  company 
then  escorted  the  generals  as  far  as  Neck  Bridge,  and  this 
was  the  first  instance  of  that  honor  conferred  on  Gen. 
Washington  in  New  England."  Mr.  Webster  adds:  "It  fell 
to  my  humble  lot  to  lead  this  company  with  music." 

The  most  interesting  military  event  which  occurred  on 
the  Green  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  the  one 
longest  remembered  by  the  people  of  New  Haven,  was  the 
celebration  of  Independence,  July  5,  1779,  by  the  British 
troops,  in  place  of  the  exercises  previously  planned  by  the 
citizens.  The  day  was  ushered  in  by  the  ringing  of  bells 
and  the  firing  of  cannon,  but  not  exactly  in  the  jubilant 
way  contemplated  by  the  committee.  The  procession  also 
formed  with  promptitude,  but  instead  of  wending  its  course 
leisurely  around  the  Green,  it  made  the  best  possible  time 
toward  Hamden  and  North  Haven.  The  out-of-town 
visitors  came  more  numerously  than  had  been  expected; 
they  were,  however,  warmly  received  in  the  suburbs  by  the 
local  militia  and  citizens;  among  the  latter,  President 
Daggett  mounted  on  his  black  mare  and  bearing  a  fowling 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES    AND    COUNCILS.        137" 

piece,  was  conspicuous  for  the  attentions  which  he  bestowed 
on  the  strangers  and  which  they  cordially  recognized 
by  an  urgent  invitation  to  accompany  them.  The  line  of 
march  was  somewhat  lengthy  owing  to  objections  inter- 
posed at  West  Bridge,  and  it  was  one  o'clock  before  the 
visiting  soldiery  marched  upon  the  Green,  escorting  Presi- 
dent Daggett  in  their  midst  in  a  very  dilapidated  condition, 
deeply  pondering  on  military  glory  and  inclined  to  believe 
that  its  charms  had  been  overrated.  The  parade  being 
over,  the  soldiers  were  dismissed  for  refreshments,  and 
entertained  themselves  with  so  much  hospitality,  and  such 
an  exuberant  overflow  of  spirits,  that  the  effects  were 
speedily  manifest  in  their  greatly  impaired  walk  and  con- 
versation. As  these  irregularities  increased,  the  officers, 
fearing  that  the  local  authorities  would  put  in  an  appearance 
and  commit  the  whole  party  to  the  lock-up,  decided  to 
bring  the  celebration  to  a  close.  The  general  illumination 
which  had  been  planned  for  the  evening  was  given  up,  and 
those  few  men  who  could  preserve  their  equilibrium  were 
employed  in  collecting  together  those  who  could  not.  By 
nine  o'clock  the  Green  was  strewn  with  the  prostrate  forms 
of  those  who  had  most  deeply  imbibed  the  spirit  of  the 
occasion,  watched  over  by  such  as  were  still  able  to  stand. 
At  a  later  hour,  by  the  aid  of  carts,  wagons  and  wheel- 
barrows kindly  loaned  for  the  purpose,  all  who  could  not 
walk  were  conveyed  to  the  wharf,  and  by  the  next  morning 
all  the  visitors  had  taken  their  departure. 

It  was  a  full  month  after  this  surprise  party  before  the 
good  people  of  New  Haven  had  sufficiently  recovered  their 
equanimity  to  hold  a  town  meeting.  On  August  6th, 
however,  they  came  together  "in  a  state  of  mind,"  and 
passed  a  number  of  votes.  One  of  these  called  to  account 
those  persons  who  had  staid  in  town  during  the  unexpected 
visitation  of  July  5th.  Another  called  to  account  those 
persons  who  went  away  on  the  same  occasion;  and  a  third 
was  one  of  great  exasperation  against  certain  inhuman 
and  unscrupulous  persons  who  since  that  date  had  been 


138  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEX. 

charging  an  exorbitant  price  for  rum — the  scarcity  of  which 
since  the  invasion  was  evidently  regarded  as  one  of  its 
gloomiest  results.  At  the  next  town  meeting,  however,  a 
more  equable  temper  was  manifested.  The  vote  concerning 
rum  was  "on  second  consideration  rescinded."  The  citi- 
zens who  remained  to  meet  the  visitors  and  also  those  who 
kept  out  of  their  way  were  both  exonerated.  A  comfort- 
able sum  was  realized  by  the  confiscation  of  Tory  property; 
and  after  a  reasonable  time,  the  price  of  Santa  Cruz  having 
receded  to  the  normal  standard,  the  public  mind  regained 
its  wonted  equanimity. 

The  military  record  of  the  Green  after  the  Revolution 
must  be  rapidly  passed  over.*  For  many  years  it  related 
only  to  the  regular  training  day  parades  of  the  local  militia 
in  May  and  September.  In  1809  the  Second  Company  of 
Governor's  Horse  Guards,  which  had  become  disbanded, 
was  re-organized,  and  thereafter  took  part  in  the  militia 
parades  for  several  years.  After  1826,  however,  it  fell  into 
a  decline  and  remained  disrupted  till  again  re-organized  in 
1861.  During  the  war  of  1812,  British  ships  lay  in  Long 
Island  Sound,  and  New  Haven  companies  were  constantly 
on  the  alert  for  a  call  to  repel  invasion.  More  than  once 
they  assembled  on  an  alarm  at  the  flagstaff,  the  appointed 
rendezvous,  but  though  ever  valiant  for  fight  and  ready  to 
put  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens,  the  hostile  force  was 
never  so  unfortunate  as  to  confront  them.  The  nearest 
approach  to  actual  warfare  in  which  they  engaged  was  in 
1813,  when  the  Foot  Guards  turned  out  to  suppress  a 
sailors'  riot  on  Long  Wharf,  a  duty  which  they  performed 
with  efficiency  and  dispatch.  The  old  State  House  near 
Trinity  Church  was  the  headquarters  of  all  the  military 
companies,  and  contained  their  drill  rooms,  as  did  also  its 
successor  until  about  1860. 

The  first  Monday  in  May,  1817,  is  interesting  as  the  date 
of  the  first  public  parade  of  the  New  Haven  Grays.  On 
the  4th  of  July  in  the  same  year  they  formed  part  of  the 

*  See  Note  4. 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES    AND    COUNCILS.        139 

escort  of  President  Monroe  on  his  visit  to  this  city.  In 
1820  the  first  election  parade  which  ever  occurred  in  New 
Haven  took  place,  and  as  these  pageants  are  now  obsolete 
in  our  city,  it  may  be  interesting  to  quote  the  description 
of  this  first  one  as  given  in  the  Foot  Guards'  records: 

"Between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  the  line  was  formed 
under  command  of  Maj.  Hotchkiss  with  the  Horse  Guards 
on  the  right,  Foot  Guards  on  the  left  and  Artillery  in  the 
center.  At  two  o'clock  the  Governor  and  Senate  were 
received  at  the  Court  House,  and  from  thence  escorted  to 
the  North  Church,  where  appropriate  services  were  per- 
formed. At  the  close  of  service  at  the  church,  the  line  was 
again  formed  and  marched  back  to  the  Court  House,  where 
His  Excellency  took  the  oath  of  office  and  was  escorted 
to  his  lodgings.  The  company  was  then  dismissed  for 
dinner  and  sat  down  to  a  bountiful  entertainment  at  the 
County  Hotel." 

In  1824  the  visit  of  Gen.  Lafayette  to  New  Haven  called 
out  a  general  military  parade  and  review  on  the  Green,  the 
Foot  Guards,  Horse  Guards  and  Grays  being  in  the  line. 
In  1828  the  New  Haven  Blues  were  organized  as  an  artillery 
company,  and  their  records  proudly  inform  us  that  in  May, 
1829,  they  appeared  on  the  Green  with  the  first  pair  of  brass 
field-pieces  drawn  by  horses  that  had  ever  been  seen  in  New 
Haven.  The  occasion  was  also  signalized  by  the  presenta- 
tion of  an  elegant  stand  of  colors  to  the  company,  impos- 
ingly drawn  up  with  its  guns  and  horses  in  front  of  the 
flag-staff.  The  military  spirit  was  now  commendably 
developed  among  the  young  men  of  New  Haven,  and  for 
many  years  not  only  the  regular  semi-annual  training  days 
in  May  and  September  were  always  marked  by  fine  military 
displays  on  the  Green,  but  also  numerous  special  occasions 
of  which  the  most  important  may  be  here  enumerated.  On 
February  22,  1832,  the  centennial  anniversary  of  Washing- 
ton's birthday  was  celebrated  by  an  imposing  parade  of  all 
the  companies;  and  in  June  of  the  same  year  a  visit  by  the 
Seventh  Regiment  of  New  York  was  made  the  occasion 


140  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

of  a  grand  reception  and  parade.  In  1833  President  Jackson 
was  escorted  to  the  State  House  by  the  military  companies 
for  a  public  reception.  In  April,  1838,  the  centennial 
celebration  of  the  settlement  of  New  Haven  was  attended 
by  a  military  parade.  In  1847  President  Polk  visited  this 
city  and  was  escorted  by  all  the  companies  to  the  State 
House.  In  1852  a  very  brilliant  display  greeted  Louis 
Kossuth  and  attended  him  to  the  same  place  of  public 
reception.  Besides  these  more  conspicuous  special  parades 
on  the  Green,  there  were  numerous  others  of  less  import- 
ance, especially  on  various  Fourths  of  July,  which  day  was 
more  frequently  celebrated  by  military  displays  before  the 
civil  war  than  in  later  years. 

As  an  event  of  local  celebrity  rather  than  of  military 
history,  the  burlesque  parade  of  "the  Invincibles"  on  June 
i,  1833,  may  be  here  referred  to.  This  redoubtable  corps 
was  commanded  by  Gen.  Timothy  Tremendous  mounted 
on  a  rackabones  charger,  who  reached  the  back  of  his  fiery 
steed  by  descending  a  ladder  from  a  second-story  window. 
The  company  in  its  equipments  and  general  appearance 
was  modelled  after  Falstaff's  ragged  regiment,  and  except 
for  its  sufficiency  of  clothing  would  nowadays  be  taken  for 
a  gang  of  student  athletes  out  for  exercise.  After  march- 
ing through  the  principal  streets,  the  company  brought  up 
at  the  south  steps  of  the  State  House,  and  was  there 
addressed  by  its  commander  in  an  outburst  of  blood  and 
thunder,  which  has  lately  been  published  by  several  of  our 
city  papers  as  editorial  matter  on  the  Venezuelan  question. 

Among  the  special  services  rendered  by  the  uniformed 
companies  between  1840  and  1854  was  their  attendance  on 
three  different  occasions  at  executions  of  criminals  in  the 
jail  yard  on  Church  street,  directly  opposite  the  Green. 
This  military  attendance  was  the  survival  of  an  old  custom, 
now  disused,  which  was  designed  to  render  as  agreeable  as 
possible  to  the  recipient  of  the  honor,  an  experience  at  best 
somewhat  disconcerting.  After  the  exercises  in  the  jail 
yard  had  been  performed  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned, 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES    AND    COUNCILS.         141 

the  soldiers  were  entertained  by  the  sheriff  at  a  genial 
banquet  in  honor  of  the  occasion  and  dismissed  with  his 
thanks  for  their  kind  and  cordial  cooperation. 

The  zeal  and  public  spirit  manifested  by  the  young  men 
of  New  Haven  who  thus  for  two  generations  kept  up  mili- 
tary organizations  in  our  city,  were  the  more  praiseworthy 
because  during  those  weak,  piping  times  of  peace  public 
interest  in  the  military  service  had  greatly  declined,  and  the 
encouragement  and  support  of  the  State  had  been  almost 
entirely  withheld.  It  will  hardly  be  believed,  did  not  the 
fact  appear  in  the  records  of  the  Common  Council,  that 
in  September,  1846,  that  body  requested  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  militia  not  to  parade  on  the  Green  the  next 
day,  which  was  one  of  the  two  annual  parade  days  fixed 
by  law,  and  reminded  him  that  a  by-law  of  the  city  pro- 
hibited thus  parading.  In  September,  1859,  the  Common 
Council  grudgingly  granted  permission  to  the  Second 
Regiment  to  use  the  north  half  of  the  lower  Green  for  their 
semi-annual  parade :  and  in  the  following  year  it  designated 
the  same  liberal  space  for  the  same  purpose.  From  such 
causes  as  these  the  membership  of  the  Grays  so  dwindled 
that  at  their  annual  parade  in  1854  the  company  numbered 
only  seven  men — two  commissioned  and  two  non-commis- 
sioned officers  and  three  privates.  Nothing  daunted,  they 
provided  themselves  with  new  uniforms,  hired  a  drum  corps 
from  New  York  City,  consisting  of  twelve  pieces,  and 
paraded  on  the  Green  and  in  the  streets  through  the  day, 
closing  with  a  banquet  at  the  Tontine  Hotel.  Indomitable 
spirits  like  these  might  be  expected  to  achieve  high  distinc- 
tion, and  accordingly  we  find  that  in  after  life  one  of  the 
sturdy  seven  captured  Fort  Fisher  and  another  is  now  a 
director  of  the  New  Haven  Colony  Historical  Society. 

Training  Days  of  the  State  Militia. 

The  uniformed  companies  which  we  have  thus  com- 
memorated formed  but  a  part  of  the  active  State  militia 
in  New  Haven  down  to  1848,  though  they  were  the  only 


142  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

part  which  could  be  called  a  military  corps.  Until  that 
year,  by  the  laws  of  the  State,  all  able-bodied  citizens 
between  eighteen  and  forty-five  (with  certain  specific 
exemptions)  were  not  only  enrolled  in  the  militia  but  were 
required  to  appear  on  appointed  days  fully  armed  and 
equipped  for  parade  and  review.  The  first  Monday  in  May 
was  from  time  immemorial  one  of  these  "training  days." 
It  was  a  public  holiday  and  was  looked  forward  to  by  every 
school  boy  all  the  rest  of  the  year  with  joyful  anticipation. 
Not  only  for  school  b'oys  but  for  the  entire  population  it 
was  a  day  of  jubliee.  Rural  swains  and  maidens  in  their 
best  attire  swarmed  in  the  streets  and  over  the  Green,  and 
settled  down  for  the  day  on  the  steps  of  the  churches. 
Oyster  booths  lined  the  borders  of  the  upper  Green,  and 
itinerant  youths  wandered  to  and  fro  bearing  trays  laden 
with  tawny-colored  twisted  strings  of  molasses  candy, 
highly  tempting  to  the  juvenile  and  bucolic  appetite. 
Groups  of  boys  of  all  sizes  and  colors  obstructed  the  paths, 
pitching  pennies  or  shooting  at  cents  with  a  bow  and  arrow, 
while  their  parents  and  guardians  were  patronizing  more 
genteel  gambling  devices  arranged  on  the  top  of  a  barrel  or 
in  some  neighboring  booth.  The  strains  of  martial  music 
were  continually  in  the  ear  and  the  incessant  popping  of 
pistols  and  fire-crackers  filled  the  air  with  din  and  a  smoky 
haze. 

The  military  exercises  of  the  day  commenced  and  ended 
on  the  Green.  The  uniformed  companies  had  by  custom 
their  regular  places  of  assembling  as  follows:  The  Grays  in 
front  of  Trinity  Church;  the  Foot  Guards  under  the  trees 
parallel  with  Chapel  street;  the  artillery  company,  or  Blues, 
opposite  the  jail,  now  the  City  Hall;  the  Horse  Guards 
at  the  north  end  of  the  Green  near  Elm  street.  The 
Grays,  Foot  Guards  and  Blues  had  each  its  own  company 
band  containing  serpents,  bassoons  and  Turkish  bells, 
and  the  melody  of  their  music  was  not  always  commen- 
surate with  its  volume.  The  feature  of  the  day,  which, 
as  it  is  now  obsolete,  and  will  probably  never  be  revived, 


FIELD    OF    MILITARY    PARADES    AND    COUNCILS.         143 

possesses  historical  interest,  was  the  parading  of  the  non- 
uniformed  militia — the  successors  in  unbroken  line  of  the 
ancient  train  bands  which  from  the  earliest  times  had  drilled 
on  the  market  place.  Let  us  recall  one  of  these  unique 
performances  as  they  were  seen  on  the  Green  fifty  years  ago. 
At  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  beat  of  the  drum 
resounded  over  the  Green,  and  in  response  to  the  summons 
throngs  of  men  in  every  variety  of  motley  garb,  military, 
civil  and  uncivil,  each  bearing  his  own  or  a  borrowed  mus- 
ket, were  seen  wending  their  way  towards  the  appointed 
rendezvous.  There  they  collected  in  two  separate  com- 
panies popularly  known  as  the  "Uptown"  and  "Down- 
town milish,"  of  which  the  former  always  mustered 
in  front  of  the  North  Church,  and  the  latter  at  the 
corner  of  Church  and  Chapel  streets,  near  the  pump. 
There  was  no  rivalry  between  the  companies  except  a 
rivalry  to  extract  the  greatest  amount  of  frolic  out  of  the 
day,  and  as  they  chose  their  own  officers  they  were  careful 
to  elect  such  as  would  intentionally  or  unintentionally  pro- 
mote that  laudable  ambition.  One  of  these  chieftains  was 
a  pompous  little  son  of  Erin,  who  immediately  on  his 
election  invested  all  his  available  capital  in  a  complete 
captain's  uniform,  which  then  included  a  sash  and  epaulets, 
a  long  curved  sword  and  an  immense  half-moon  chapeau 
surmounted  by  a  lofty  red-tipped  plume.  Arrayed  in  this 
magnificent  attire,  he  endeavored  on  the  morning  of  train- 
ing day  to  maneuver  his  company  according  to  his  own 
extremely  limited  knowledge  of  tactics,  and  as  the  first  step 
toward  orderly  arrangement  to  form  his  men  into  line. 
Accordingly  with  a  swing  of  his  pondrous  sabre  over  his 
head,  he  shouted  the  command,  "Attintion  company!  Get 
into  a  row!"  With  prompt  obedience  a  row  was  at  once 
commenced  which  the  captain  in  vain  attempted  to  allay  by 
the  explanation  that  he  wanted  the  company  "to  do  what 
the  Blues  were  doing."  At  length  by  a  series  of  similar 
appeals  the  company  was  arranged  in  the  semblance 
of  a  column  and  received  the  order  to  march.  As  no 


144  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

particular  time  was  specified  the  company  selected  the 
double  quick  and  made  an  impetuous  rush  which  took  the 
little  warrior  off  his  feet  and  carried  him  along  the  street 
in  the  midst  of  his  own  men,  his  sanguineous  plume  and 
wildly-waved  sword  alone  being  visible  in  the  melee.  The 
line  of  march,  about  which  the  commander  was  very  little 
consulted,  embraced  numerous  halting  places  for  refresh- 
ments, so  that  by  the  time  the  company  returned  to  the 
Green  both  officers  and  men  were  in  a  condition  quite 
unfavorable  for  a  successful  drill  in  the  manual  of  arms. 
The  display  was  nevertheless  attempted  in  the  presence  of 
an  admiring  crowd,  and  the  doughty  captain  having  got 
his  men  "into  a  row"  gave  the  first  order  which  came  into 
his  head,  which  happened  to  be  "Charge  bayonets!"  The 
next  moment  he  was  running  for  his  life  before  a  bristling 
line  of  steel  which  followed  him  closely  across  the  Green  and 
up  the  Tontine  steps  into  the  hotel,  where  the  pursuit  was 
checked  by  an  appropriate  order,  which  the  captain  happily 
remembered  just  in  time  and  issued  to  the  barkeeper.  The 
last  exercise  of  training  day  was  company  and  platoon 
firing  on  the  Green  by  all  the  troops.  Sometimes  a  sham 
fight  would  be  had,  the  contending  forces  being  drawn  up 
on  opposite  sides  of  the  Green.  On  such  occasions  the 
intervening  space  was  carefully  avoided  by  prudent  specta- 
tors on  account  of  stray  ramrods  which  now  and  then  went 
singing  through  the  smoke  half  way  across  the  field  of 
battle. 

These  farcical  attempts  to  educate  the  people  in  the  mili- 
tary art  by  compulsion  had  been  abandoned  several  years 
prior  to  1861;  and  for  the  decade  before  that  eventful  year, 
although  some  slight  recognition  was  given  by  law  to  the 
uniformed  companies,  yet  these  maintained  their  organiza- 
tion chiefly  through  the  personal  zeal  and  public  spirit  of 
their  members.  During  the  whole  of  that  period  threaten- 
ing clouds  had  been  gathering  in  the  political  sky,  but 
though  they  grew  continually  darker,  and  the  rumblings  of 
secession  sounded  louder  and  louder  along  the  southern 


FIELD    OF   MILITARY    PARADES   AND    COUNCILS.        145 

horizon,  men  generally  believed  that  these  portents  would 
pass  away  without  a  storm.  But  after  the  Presidential 
election  of  1860  the  tempest  swept  together  like  the  rush 
of  a  cyclone  and  suddenly,  from  the  midst  of  it,  like  an  awful 
thunderclap,  the  roar  of  the  guns  fired  at  Fort  Sumter 
shook  the  firmament  and  started  the  whole  nation  to  its  feet 
with  the  universal  cry,  "To  arms!"  Before  the  echoes  of 
that  peal  had  rolled  across  New  Haven  Green,  out  flew  Old 
Glory  from  the  peak  of  the  flagstaff  and  from  the  topmost 
spire  of  Center  Church,  and  forthwith,  as  if  by  a  magic 
signal,  every  blade  of  grass  beneath  seemed  transformed 
into  a  soldier!  From  workshop  and  counter,  from  office 
and  study  and  farm,  came  those  who  had  often  turned  the 
Green,  as  a  military  parade  ground,  into  a  mere  field  of 
frolic,  but  who  now,  inspired  with  patriotic  zeal,  marched  to 
and  fro  in  squads  over  its  surface  from  morn  till  dewy  eve, 
assiduous  to  learn  the  duties  of  the  soldier.  Officers  and 
privates  of  uniformed  companies  who  had  been  for  years 
faithfully  practicing  military  tactics,  with  little  public  sup- 
port, and  under  a  certain  degree  of  public  ridicule,  were 
urgently  besought  to  take  positions  of  instruction  and 
command.  Even  small  boys  in  the  Russell  Military  School 
were  called  from  their  desks  and  were  daily  seen  on  the 
Green  with  strident  steps  and  piping  voices  marshaling 
and  drilling  their  several  squads  of  stalwart  men.  Fort 
Sumter  fell  on  the  I4th  day  of  April,  1861,  and  on  the  loth 
of  May  the  Second  Regiment  of  Connecticut  Volunteers, 
fully  armed  and  equipped,  paraded  on  the  lower  Green, 
departing  for  the  seat  of  war.  At  the  right  of  the  line 
stood  the  New  Haven  Grays  in  full  ranks  and  in  their  com- 
pany uniform,  and  in  front  rode  Col.  Alfred  H.  Terry  in 
command  of  the  regiment.  I  will  not  linger  over  the  details 
of  that  solemn  and  memorable  scene:  the  speeches,  the 
prayers,  the  blessings  and  the  tears  which  marked  it  will 
never  fade  from  the  memories  of  the  past  and  will  forever 
hallow  the  ground  with  which  they  are  associated.  The 
public  ceremonies  are  over;  the  colors  have  been  presented 


14:6       CHRONICLES  OF  NEW  HAVEN  GREEN. 

and  the  benediction  pronounced;  the  line  forms  into 
column;  the  command  is  given  to  march;  the  band  strikes 
up  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  and  in  step  with  those 
inspiring  strains  the  regiment,  amid  its  following  of  cheer- 
ing citizens,  crying  women  and  clinging  little  children, 
passes  through  the  south  gate  of  the  Green,  New  Haven's 
first  great  offering  on  that  sacred  altar  which  was  afterwards 
to  receive  so  many! 


NOTES  TO  PAPER  No.  IV. 


NOTE  i  (page  118). 

This  paper  was  read  February  24,  1896,  when  there  was  serious 
apprehension  of  war  with  Great  Britain  over  the  Venezuelan  question. 
That  danger  happily  disappeared,  but  while  this  book  is  in  press  the 
war  with  Spain  is  furnishing  a  melancholy  answer  to  the  hopes 
expressed  in  the  latter  part  of  the  paragraph  to  which  this  note  is 
appended. 

NOTE  2  (page  122). 

A  list  of  property  belonging  to  the  town  in  1657  enumerates  "3  great 
gunnes  at  the  water  side  upon  shipp  carriages"  and  "3  more  of  the 
greater  cise  in  the  market  place  upon  field  carriages."  The  shot  and 
powder  for  these  guns  was  kept  in  "the  Prison  Chamber."  It  seems 
to  have  been  the  practice  to  keep  cannon  on  the  market  place  until 
1748,  and  probably  later.  Three  are  shown  on  the  Green  in  Wads- 
worth's  map  of  that  date. 

NOTE  3  (page  131). 

And  now  (August,  1898)  thousands  of  fever-stricken,  hunger-wasted 
soldiers  are  being  brought  back  from  those  same  pestilential  shores  of 
Cuba,  victims  of  the  reckless  folly  of  Congress,  which  precipitated 
war  with  Spain  without  previous  preparation  and  in  the  height  of  a 
tropical  summer.  A  series  of  miracles  and  the  valor  of  the  "men 
behind  the  guns"  in  navy  and  army  brought  the  campaign  to  a  success- 
ful close  just  as  it  was  about  to  collapse  in  ignominious  and  disastrous 
failure.  Had  our  opponent  been  any  other  European  power  than 
feeble  and  bankrupt  Spain,  we  should  now  be  anxiously  considering 
how  to  protect  our  own  seaboard  towns  from  destruction,  instead  of 
discussing  how  much  territory  we  shall  hold,  and  seize,  to  pay  us  for 
our  disinterested  efforts  in  the  cause  of  humanity. 

NOTE  4  (page  138). 

President  Stiles'  Diary  under  date  of  June  27,  1781,  says:  "Lauzun's 
Legion  of  Colonial  troops,  300  horse  and  300  foot  commanded  by  the 
Duke  de  Lauzun,  passed  through  town  on  its  way  to  Washington's 
Army  and  encamped  one  night  in  the  new  town  one  mile  east  of  the 
College."  It  resumed  its  march  early  the  next  morning  and  as  it  was 
going  to  New  Jersey  probably  took  the  Litchfield  road,  and  if  so, 
doubtless  crossed  the  Green  diagonally  from  the  corner  of  Church  and 
Chapel  to  the  corner  of  Elm  and  College  streets.  President  Stiles  says 
he  called  upon  the  Duke,  who  was  the  guest  of  Gen.  Wooster,  whose 
house  is  still  standing  on  Wooster  street.  It  was  then  beautifully 
situated,  with  large  grounds  about  it  and  an  open  view  of  the  harbor 
in  front. 


V. 
THE  GREEN  AS  THE  SEAT  OF  JUDICIAL  TRIBUNALS. 

The  judicial  history  of  New  Haven  for  the  first  eighteen 
months  after  its  settlement  is,  like  its  civil,  religious  and 
military  history,  an  utter  blank.  As  to  what  laws  prevailed, 
by  whom  and  how  they  were  administered  and  with  what 
effect  on  public  order  and  morals,  scarcely  a  fragment  of 
record  or  tradition  remains  to  inform  us,  and  we  know 
hardly  more  about  it  than  we  do  about  the  laws  and  magis- 
trates of  the  antediluvians.  We  are  simply  told  that  on 
the  first  day  of  extraordinary  humiliation  which  the  free 
planters  had  after  they  came  together,  there  was  a  solemn 
covenant  made  "that  in  all  publique  offices  which  concerne 
civil  order  they  would  be  governed  by  the  rules  which 
Scripture  holds  forth;"  and  it  is  also  recorded  that  a  year 
and  a  half  later,  after  the  principles  of  the  proposed  perma- 
nent government  were  agreed  upon,  "all  former  power  and 
trust  for  managing  any  publique  affairs  in  this  plantation 
into  whose  hands  soever  formerly  committed  was  now 
abrogated  and  from  henceforward  utterly  to  cease."  On 
the  same  day  new  magistrates  were  duly  chosen.  It  was 
also  agreed  that  there  should  be  a  yearly  election  of  magis- 
trates thereafter  in  October,  and  that  "the  word  of  God 
shall  be  the  only  rule  to  be  attended  to  in  ordering  the 
affayres  of  government  in  this  plantation." 

Organisation  of  the  Courts. 

In  the  theocratic  system  thus  established  the  modern 
plan  of  keeping  the  executive,  legislative  and  judicial 
departments  distinct  from  each  other  was  conspicuous  by 
its  absence.  All  the  powers  and  functions  of  government 
were  inextricably  intermingled  and  promiscuously  exer- 
cised by  various  assemblies  called  "courts."  When  the 


THE    SEAT    OF   JUDICIAL    TRIBUNALS.  149 

whole  body  of  freemen  met  in  town  meeting  it  was  called 
"the  General  Court,"  whose  principal  province  it  was  to 
make  laws,  levy  taxes  and  choose  magistrates;  yet  its  first 
act  was  to  hold  a  trial  for  murder.  There  was  also  the 
"Particular  Court,"  or  "Plantation  Court,"  consisting  of 
the  governor  and  four  assistants  with  a  clerk  and  marshal, 
which,  as  Mr.  Levermore  says,  "took  cognizance  of  any 
matters  which  seemed  to  Magistrate  Eaton  suitable  for 
immediate  decision  without  reference  to  the  general  court 
or  whole  body  of  freemen.  It  sent  malefactors  to  the  whip- 
ping post.  It  registered  wills  and  administered  estates, 
decided  civil  suits  and  granted  divorces.  It  also  established 
and  regulated  the  watch  and  military  affairs,  and  created 
new  town  officers  as  occasion  required." 

In  1643,  after  tne  plantation  had  expanded  into  a  colony, 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  plantation  court  was  limited  to  civil 
causes  in  which  the  matter  in  demand  did  not  exceed  £20, 
and  to  those  criminal  matters  in  which  a  punishment  not 
greater  than  stocking  or  whipping,  or  a  fine  of  £5,  was 
prescribed  by  the  laws  of  Moses  and  other  parts  of  Scrip- 
ture. Its  sessions  were  held  monthly  and  it  was  sometimes 
called  "the  monthly  court."  There  was  also  established  a 
colonial  court  for  cases  of  greater  magnitude  and  for  pre- 
paring appeals  from  the  plantation  court.  This  court  was 
composed  of  the  governor  and  magistrates  from  each  town 
in  the  colony,  and  met  at  New  Haven  in  April  and  October. 
In  addition  to  its  judicial  functions  it  made  laws  as  a  colonial 
legislature,  managed  external  affairs  and  levied  taxes 
throughout  the  colony. 

The  Laws  of  God  the  Only  Code. 

The  legal  code  which  these  early  courts  expounded  and 
enforced  was  about  as  vague  and  elastic  as  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  courts  themselves.  It  was  concisely  summed  up  in 
the  records  as  "the  judicial  lawes  of  God  as  they  were 
delivered  by  Moses  and  expounded  in  other  parts  of  Scrip- 


150  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

ture,  so  farre  as  they  are  a  fence  to  the  morall  law  and  not 
tipicall  nor  having  reference  to  Canaan."  To  this  general 
code  rriust  also  be  added  such  special  local  ordinances 
as  were  from  time  to  time  enacted  by  the  general  and 
plantation  courts.  In  practical  administration  the  scope  of 
the  criminal  law  was  extended  to  cover  not  only  the  scrip- 
tural code  of  morals  as  interpreted  by  the  magistrates,  but 
minute  infractions  of  decorum  according  to  the  same 
authority,  and  even  scraps  of  private  conversation,  which 
might  be  deemed  .not  entirely  agreeable  to  the  divine  ear, 
were  dragged  to  light  as  subjects  for  trial  and  punishment. 
In  1656,  a  digest  of  the  colonial  code  was  prepared  by  Gov. 
Eaton,  and  printed  with  copious  and  convincing  citations 
of  Scripture  authority  in  the  margin;  but  this  reduction 
to  written  form  made  very  little  difference  in  the  latitude 
of  jurisdiction  assumed  by  the  court.  It  has  been  shown 
by  papers  read  before  this  Society  that,  taking  the  printed 
code  and  the  judicial  decisions  under  it  as  the  laws  of  the 
colony,  most  of  the  allegations  of  Peters  respecting  the  so- 
called  Blue  Laws  were  founded  in  truth.  It  should  be 
added,  however,  that  some  of  the  most  extreme  features  of 
the  code  were  never  enforced,  and  that  even  these  and  also 
most  of  the  others  accorded  with  the  current  legislation  of 
the  age,  not  only  in  the  other  colonies,  but  also  in  England.* 
Dr.  Bacon  truly  remarks  that  the  New  Haven  code  as  a 
whole  was  superior  for  humanity  and  justice  to  the  civil 
and  criminal  laws  of  England,  not  only  at  that  time  but  for 
a  hundred  years  later. 

The  methods  of  procedure  which  prevailed  in  the  early 
courts  were  simple  and  effective.  The  presiding  magis- 
trates were  prosecuting  officer,  judge  and  jury  all  combined. 
There  was  but  one  rule  of  evidence  and  that  was  to  admit 
everything  that  was  offered  by  witnesses  and  bystanders 
in  the  nature  of  facts,  hearsay  and  guesses,  and  to  screw  as 
much  more  out  of  the  parties  to  their  own  disadvantage 
as  possible.  In  criminal  trials  the  court  never  allowed 

*  See  Note  i  at  the  end  of  this  Paper. 


THE   SEAT   OF   JUDICIAL   TRIBUNALS.  151 

itself  to  be  embarrassed  by  any  presumption  of  innocence 
and  it  by  no  means  believed  in  the  maxim  that  it  is  better 
that  ten  guilty  men  escape  than  that  one  innocent  person 
should  suffer.  Occasionally  in  civil  causes  the  parties  were 
allowed  to  appear  by  attorney,  but  in  criminal  cases  no  such 
interference  was  tolerated.  Apparently  some  innovator 
had  prior  to  1667  attempted  thus  to  obstruct  the  course 
of  justice,  for  in  that  year  it  was  enacted  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  Connecticut  that  "what  person  or  persons 
soever  shall  take  the  boldness  to  themselves  to  plead  or 
speak  in  behalf  of  any  person  upon  examination  or  trial 
for  delinquency,  except  he  shall  speak  directly  to  matter  of 
law  and  with  leave  of  the  authority  present,  he  shall  pay 
ten  shillings  to  the  public  treasurer  as  a  fine  or  sit  in  the 
stocks  one  hour  for  every  offence."  Under  such  dis- 
couraging enactments  a  flourishing  bar  could  hardly  be 
expected.  In  fact,  our  ancestors  for  the  first  hundred  years 
seem  to  have  had  much  the  same  opinion  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession as  Peter  the  Great,  who,  after  a  visit  to  the  courts 
at  Westminster  Hall,  thanked  God  that  there  was  but  one 
lawyer  in  his  dominions  and  declared  that  he  would  hang 
him  as  soon  as  he  got  home. 

The  Successive  Court  Houses. 

Before  illustrating  the  proceedings  of  the  early  New 
Haven  courts  by  citations  from  the  records,  let  us  locate 
the  several  places  on  the  Green  where  at  different  periods 
of  its  history  judicial  tribunals  have  held  their  sessions. 
With  regard  to  this  point  the  records  from  1639  to  1718 
give  us  little  or  no  information.  The  trial  of  Nepaupuck 
for  murder  in  October,  1639,  was  preceded  by  an  examina- 
tion before  the  magistrates  which,  from  an  allusion  in  the 
records  to  "the  mantelpiece  of  the  chimney,"  is  believed  to 
have  been  held  in  Gov.  Eaton's  house,  but  where  his  trial 
was  held,  and  also  subsequent  trials  before  the  General 
Court,  there  are  no  means  to  determine.  After  the  meeting- 


152  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

house  was  built  it  is  supposed  that  the  courts  and  all  other 
public  assemblies  convened  within  its  walls,  but  the  only 
evidence  of  that  fact  as  respects  the  courts  is  derived  from 
the  report  of  a  civil  trial  held  in  1659,  where  we  are  told 
that  "the  season  being  cold  the  court  removed  to  a  private 
house,"  and  that  it  afterwards  "returned  to  the  meeting- 
house." This  is  the  only  hint  to  be  found  respecting  the 
place  or  building  used  by  the  courts  until  action  was  taken 
for  the  erection  of  the  first  Court  and  State  House  in  1719. 
It  is  true  that  four  years  prior  to  this  date  the  General 
Assembly  ordered  the  accession  of  George  I.  to  be  pro- 
claimed "in  the  great  square  in  front  of  the  court  house," 
but  probably  that  designation  was  applied  to  the  meet- 
ing-house as  the  place  where  the  General  Assembly,  or 
"General  Court,"  was  then  holding  its  session.  As  sug- 
gested in  a  previous  paper,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  original 
watch-house  was  used  as  a  court  house  by  the  County 
Court  after  1665,  and  that  it  is  shown  in  the  Brown  and 
Wadsworth  maps  under  the  name  of  "the  County  House" 
attached  to  the  Court  House  of  1719. 

However,  this  may  be,  in  January,  1719,  according  to 
our  present  mode  of  reckoning,  an  order  was  made  by 
the  County  Court  for  the  erection  of  a  "timber  house  for 
his  Majesty's  service,  45  feet  in  length  and  2.2.  feet  in 
breadth,  two  stories  high  with  chimneys  at  each  end,  pro- 
vided the  town  of  New  Haven  provide  a  suitable  piece  of 
land  to  set  it  upon."  A  month  later  a  town  meeting 
granted  a  half  a  quarter  of  an  acre  of  land  in  the  market 
place  for  the  proposed  building  "adjoining  the  old  prison- 
house,"  that  is  to  say  near  the  corner  of  College  and  Elm 
streets.  The  building  was  completed  sometime  in  1720 
and  was  thereafter  occupied  as  a  court  and  state  house 
until  1763.  In  that  year  the  second  Court  and  State  House 
was  built  by  the  county  on  the  line  of  Temple  street  near 
the  present  site  of  Trinity  Church.  This  building,  whose 
appearance  is  familiar  to  us  through  numerous  pictures, 
was  of  brick  in  the  colonial  style,  having  the  court  rooms 


THE   SEAT   OF   JUDICIAL   TRIBUNALS.  153 

and  town  hall  on  the  lower  floor  and  rooms  above  for  the 
General  Assembly.  The  cost  of  the  building  was  borne  by 
the  colony  and  the  county  jointly,  but  in  December,  1768, 
a  town  meeting,  in  a  burst  of  generosity,  voted  that  "in 
consideration  of  the  use  the  town  would  have  of  the 
building  it  would  pay  one  quarter  of  the  expense  of  the 
stone  steps,  front  and  rear."  Certainly  the  town  was 
justified  in  the  end  for  this  lavish  expenditure,  for  in  this 
building  the  political,  civil,  judicial  and  social  life  of  New 
Haven  centered  through  nearly  three  generations  embrac- 
ing the  most  remarkable  and  stirring  period  of  its  history. 
Here  were  held  the  town  and  public  meetings  connected 
with  the  old  French  war,  in  opposition  to  the  stamp  act, 
in  the  preparation  and  progress  of  the  Revolution,  with  the 
decline  of  the  old  confederation,  the  inauguration  of  the 
present  federal  government,  and  all  others  through  the 
many  stormy  years  of  political  and  party  strife  which 
followed  thereafter.  Here  the  infant  city  first  saw  the  light, 
and  here  for  more  than  sixty  years  were  celebrated  by 
public  meetings,  banquets  and  balls,  the  victories  of  war, 
the  return  of  peace,  the  triumphs  of  parties,  and  the  fes- 
tivities of  commencement  seasons,  Fourths  of  July  and 
other  public  anniversaries  and  occasions.  Here  the  state 
legislatures  convened,  and  all  the  courts,  both  federal  and 
state,  sat,  and  here  the  New  Haven  bar  developed  from 
infancy  to  vigorous  prime.  It  may  be  interesting  to  add 
that  a  part  of  the  foundation  wall  and  steps  of  this  ancient 
building  are  still  preserved  in  the  foundation  wall  and  steps 
of  the  dwelling  house  No.  644  on  State  street. 

When  after  1818,  a  state  constitution  had  superseded 
the  ancient  colonial  charter  and  the  stocks  and  the  whip- 
ping post  with  other  colonial  relics  and  usages  had  passed 
away,  the  Colonial  State  House  was  deemed  too  narrow 
and  old-fashioned  for  the  new  order  of  things,  and  it  was 
torn  down  in  1828.  Most  of  the  materials  were  used  in  the 
erection  of  its  successor,  and  during  the  building  of  the 
latter  the  courts  sat  for  three  years  in  the  basement  of  the 


154:        CHRONICLES  OF  NEW  HAVEN  GREEN. 

Methodist  Church  on  the  Green,  near  the  corner  of  College 
and  Elm  streets.  At  last,  in  1831,  there  was  seen  upon  the 
Green,  fully  completed,  that  stately  and  classic  temple  of 
graceful  proportions  which  we  all  remember  so  well  and 
admired  so  much  both  in  the  light  of  day,  when  it  appeared 
like  a  battered  veteran  abundantly  scarred  but  imperfectly 
plastered,  or  when,  bathed  in  the  radiance  of  the  lunar  rays, 
it  gleamed  with  the  mild  effulgence  "of  an  ancient  mackerel 
by  moonlight."  As  the  home  of  this  Society,  free  of  rent 
for  several  years,  the  late  lamented,  though  lost  to  sight,  is 
still  to  memory  dear,  and  however  convinced  we  may  be 
that  the  Green  is  the  better  off  for  its  having  left  it,  we 
recall  with  tender  emotion  the  many  virtues  which  pleaded 
trumpet-tongued  against  the  deep  darnation  of  its  taking 
oft*.  It  was  occupied  by  the  courts  till  December,  1862, 
when  the  new  City  Hall  on  Church  street  having  been 
completed,  judicial  tribunals  took  their  final  departure  from 
the  Green,  which  had  been  their  abiding  place  for  two 
centuries  and  a  quarter. 

Proceedings  of  the  Early  Courts. 

If  the  early  records  are  meagre  in  their  information  about 
court  accommodations,  they  are  not  open  to  this  charge 
as  regards  their  reports  of  the  judicial  proceedings.  These 
are  all  detailed  with  a  particularity  which  not  only  furnishes 
a  clear  and  picturesque  view  of  the  way  in  which  justice 
was  dispensed,  and  sometimes  dispensed  with,  in  the  primi- 
tive days  of  the  colony,  but  also  gives  us  a  distinct  impres- 
sion of  the  social  and  moral  atmosphere  of  the  time.  As 
already  stated,  the  only  rule  by  which  the  courts  were 
governed  was  to  do  substantial  justice  according  to  the 
will  of  God  as  interpreted  by  the  magistrates,  and  this 
applied  as  well  in  civil  as  in  criminal  law.  Thus  in  the 
settlement  of  estates,  the  courts  did  not  hesitate  to  set  aside 
a  will  if  they  thought  it  unjust,  as  in  the  case  of  Hinde's 
estate  in  1653,  where  the  testator  had  left  everything  to  his 


THE    SEAT    OF    JUDICIAL    TRIBUNALS.  155 

wife,  and  she  being  about  to  marry  again,  refused  to  make 
provision  for  the  children.  "The  Court  wished  her  to 
consider  whether,  if  her  husband  had  given  all  to  the 
children,  she  could  not  have  been  relieved?  Men  may  not 
make  wills  as  they  will  themselves,  but  must  attend  the 
mind  of  God  in  doing  the  same."  Gov.  Eaton  was 
regarded  as  specially  expert  in  discerning  and  expounding 
the  divine  will  in  judicial  questions,  and  the  clerk  takes 
evident  pride  in  spreading  his  edifying  discourses  on  the 
records.  When  James  Heyward  was  complained  of  for 
being  drunk,  "the  governor  declared  to  him  how  greatly 
his  sinne  was  aggravated  with  many  circumstances,  but 
especially  that  he  being  a  member  of  the  church  with  whom 
the  Lord  had  dealt  so  kindly  with,  and  he  so  to  requite 
the  Lord  was  a  sinfull,  foolish  thing:  oh  foolish  people  and 
unwise  doe  you  so  requite  the  Lord."  The  culprit  pru- 
dently acknowledged  the  enormity  of  his  offense  and  "justi- 
fied the  court  in  whatever  God  might  incline  their  hearts 
unto."  This  soft  answer  considerably  mollified  the  gover- 
nor, so  that  he  summed  up  the  case  as  follows:  "Drunken- 
ness is  among  the  fruits  of  the  flesh  both  to  be  witnessed 
against  in  the  church  and  in  the  civil  court,  and  it  is  a 
brutish  sinne  and  to  be  witnessed  against:  a  whip  for  the 
horse,  a  bridle  for  the  asse  and  a  rod  for  the  foole's  back. 
But  it  has  not  been  brought  to  me  that  this  man  hath  been 
given  to  drunkenness,  and  I  leave  it  therefore  with  the 
court  whether  they  shall  find  a  disposition  to  drunkenness 
or  an  act  only."  Upon  this  hint  the  court  promptly  found 
that  the  defendant  had  got  drunk  against  his  inclinations 
and  that  it  was  not  a  case  for  the  whip  nor  the  rod  but  the 
bridle.  They  therefore  decided  "not  to  punish  it  with 
corporal  punishment  but  by  a  fine  only,"  thus  judicially 
declaring  Mr.  Heyward  to  be  an  ass,  much  to  his  relief  and 
satisfaction. 

A  more  vigorous  lecture  was  addressed  in  1659  by 
Governor  Newman  to  William  East,  another  church  mem- 
ber, whose  chronic  inebriety  could  not  be  reconciled  with 


156  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

a  want  of  disposition.  He  was  told  that  "the  gross  miscar- 
riages by  him  committed  that  he  should  make  his  house 
a  house  of  drunkennesse  and  rise  up  against  authority  as  he 
had  done,  showed  that  he  was  a  man  fallen  from  God  and 
from  the  profession  which  he  had  formerly  made  more  than 
in  an  ordinary  manner,  and  now  to  goe  on  to  add  sinne  to 
sinne  it  was  an  amazing  thing  to  consider  off  as  if  he  were 
an  atheist  and  without  God  in  the  world,  and  that  he  carryes 
it  as  one  given  up  of  God  to  satisfie  his  severall  appetites 
and  had  thereby  caused  the  name  of  God  to  be  blaspheamed: 
shall  such  wickedness  be  suffered  and  is  there  no  balm  in 
Gilead  or  as  we  may  say  no  meanes  to  prevent  it?  It  is  an 
amazing  thing  that  he  should  doe  thus  wickedly  in  a  land 
of  uprightness  and  not  behold  the  majesty  of  ye  Lord." 
After  much  more  to  the  same  effect,  the  court  applied  the 
balm  of  Gilead  in  the  shape  of  a  fine  of  £50,  with  the  threat 
that  if  he  were  found  drunk  again  he  would  be  anointed 
with  a  more  pungent  form  of  ointment  at  the  whipping 
post.  He  was  then  dismissed  with  the  encouraging  remark 
by  the  court  that  "he  goes  under  the  divell  in  the  state  he 
stands  in." 

Troubles  from  Temperance  Legislation. 

The  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  New  Haven  Colony 
under  a  license  system  was  as  prolific  of  business  for  the 
courts,  including  some  burning  questions  of  law,  as  at 
present.  One  such  case  was  that  of  Robert  Bassett,  the 
town  drummer,  who  was  licensed  to  sell  liquors  in  quanti- 
ties not  less  than  three  quarts,  the  intention  being  to  pre- 
vent his  retailing  it  to  be  drunk  on  the  premises.  A  jolly 
party  of  sailors  visited  his  house  one  evening  and  called  for 
"sacke."  Bassett,  with  literal  adherence  to  the  terms  of 
his  license,  supplied  them  with  three  full  quarts,  and  when 
that  was  gone  furnished  three  quarts  more,  and  so  on  "in 
severall  parcells,  three  quarts  at  a  time."  The  direful  con- 
sequences are  thus  described  in  the  records  of  the  court: 


THE    SEAT    OF   JUDICIAL   TRIBUNALS.  157 

"Some  of  the  company  dranke  to  excess  and  distemper 
and  broke  into  quarrelling  and  other  miscarriages.  The 
owner  of  the  pinnace  in  their  cupps  calling  the  boatswaine 
of  the  Susan,  Brother  Loggerhead,  the  boatswaine  returns 
threatening  language,  thence  they  grew  to  sideing,  part- 
taking  and  challenging,  then  the  master  of  the  pinnace 
and  the  boatswaine,  going  out  of  ye  house,  fall  first  to 
wrestling,  then  to  blowes  and  therein  grew  to  that  fierceness 
that  ye  master  of  the  pinnace  thought  that  ye  boatswaine 
would  have  pulled  out  his  eies,  and  in  their  rage  and  dis- 
temper they  toumbled  on  ye  ground,  down  ye  hill  into  ye 
creeke  and  ye  mire,  shamfully  wallowing  therein.  Then 
Charles  Higenson,  distempered  as  it  seems  with  drinke,  in 
a  way  of  sideing  with  the  boatswaine,  grew  quarrelsome, 
wherewith  the  owner  of  the  pinnace  being  affrighted,  ran 
aboute  ye  street  crying  '  Hoe,  the  watch !  hoe,  the  watch  ! ' 
and  the  boatswaine  fell  a  swearing  wounds  and  hart  as  if 
he  were  not  only  angry  with  men  but  would  provoake  the 
high  and  blessed  God."  The  turmoil  brought  the  watch 
to  the  scene,  who  parted  the  combatants  and  they  returned 
to  Robert  Bassett's  house,  where  the  irate  boatswain  recom- 
menced the  fray,  "and  thereby  frighted  Robert  Bassett's 
wife  and  child,  so  that  Bassett  thrust  them  out  of  doors  with 
violence  and  terrible  threats,  so  that  the  disorder  was  very 
great  and  very  offensive  both  to  ye  neighbors,  the  noyse 
and  oathes  being  heard  to  the  other  side  of  the  creeks,  and 
to  others  coming  thither,  and  Robert  Bassett  confessed  that 
he  had  not  heard  the  like  since  he  came  to  this  place."  (It 
must  be  remembered  that  Yale  College  was  not  established 
in  New  Haven  till  two  generations  later.) 

The  court  was  greatly  scandalized  at  the  affair,  especially 
at  Bassett's  construction  of  his  license,  declaring  that  "it 
was  a  perverse  interpretation  of  the  order  forcing  men  to 
drink  more  than  they  desired,  whereas  he  should  have 
drawn  nothing  at  all  in  that  waye."  He  was  therefore 
mulcted  in  a  heavy  penalty  as  the  responsible  cause  of  the 
disturbance,  but  the  sailors  being  new-comers  to  the  town 


158  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

and  persons  of  low  breeding,  weak  intelligence  and  feeble 
moral  sense,  were  let  off  with  a  censure  and  the  light  fines 
which  are  usually  imposed  on  college  students  and  such 
like  characters  in  similar  cases. 


The  Early  Sabbath  Laws. 

In  the  laws  relating  to  Sabbath  observance  the  Puritan 
sentiment  was  most  strongly  entrenched,  and  prosecutions 
under  these  were  perhaps  the  most  numerous  of  any.  By 
Governor  Eaton's  Code,  Sabbath-breaking,  "if  proudly, 
presumptuously  and  with  a  high  hand  committed  against 
the  known  command  and  authority  of  the  blessed  God," 
was  punishable  with  death,  but  it  is  not  known  that  this 
extreme  penalty  was  ever  enforced.  The  cases  were  numer- 
ous, however,  where  fines  were  imposed,  and  even  corporal 
punishment  was  in  one  case  inflicted  for  non-attendance  or 
lateness  at  meeting,  and  excuses  were  rarely  received.  In 
1643  William  Blayden,  "charged  with  late  cumming  2 
Lords  dayes,  pleaded  that  the  first  time  he  heard  not  the 
drume,  and  thother  day  he  having  got  wet  the  day  before 
in  the  evening  it  rayninge  and  he  not  able  to  make  a  fier 
to  dry  his  clothes,  was  forced  to  lye  abedd  the  Lord's  days. 
But  the  truth  appearing  to  be  no  other  than  a  prophane 
neglecting,  yea  dispising  the  ordynances  of  Christ  through 
sloathfulnesse,  the  judgement  of  the  court  was  that  he  be 
publicly  whipped  as  he  is  the  first  profanely  breaking  the 
Sabbath,  worshipping  not  God  nor  waytinge  for  a  blessing 
from  him  on  himself."  In  1647  the  masters  of  two  vessels 
in  the  harbor  were  called  before  the  court  to  answer  for 
working  on  the  Sabbath  on  board  their  respective  vessels. 
They  replied  that  the  vessels  were  in  sudden  peril  and  the 
labor  became  necessary,  but  were  told  that  "they  ought  to 
have  provided  beforehand  so  that  nothing  should  disturb 
them  on  the  Sabbath."  It  appeared  that  with  respect  to 
one  of  the  vessels,  Mr.  Davenport  had  been  consulted  and 
had  advised  that  "the  issue  be  left  to  God's  Providence," 


THE    SEAT    OF    JUDICIAL    TRIBUNALS.  159 

but  that  notwithstanding  this  high  authority  in  favor  of 
salvation  by  faith  in  the  case  of  ships,  the  master  had 
trusted  to  works  as  the  more  orthodox  course  in  practical 
seamanship.  After  due  deliberation,  the  court  "consider- 
ing the  persons  that  they  are  strangers  and  thinking  that 
they  did  not  doe  it  out  of  contempt  but  ignorantly,  they 
agreed  for  this  time  (they  acknowledging  their  failings  and 
promising  amendment  for  time  to  come)  to  passe  it  by, 
but  if  any  of  our  owne  take  libbertie  hereby  the  sentence 
will  be  heavier  on  them."  The  penitent  mariners  were 
careful,  before  another  Sunday,  to  put  themselves  beyond 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  and  doubtless  thereafter  noted 
on  their  charts  that  New  Haven  harbor  and  New  Haven 
Green  were  places  equally  dangerous  to  navigators. 

It  is  often  said  that  the  New  England  Sabbath  ended  at 
sundown  on  Sunday  evening,  but  this  was  certainly  neither 
the  usage  nor  the  law  of  New  Haven.  The  Lord's  day 
evening  was  included  by  the  ordinances  in  "holy  time"  and 
any  peccadillo  then  committed  was  punished  with  addi- 
tional severity.  William  Pert,  who  "took  a  couple  of 
watermillions  out  of  Mr.  Hooke's  lot  on  Sunday  evening, 
'was'  publiquely  whipped  for  doing  it  so  soon  after  the 
Sabbath."  In  1659  an  ordinance  was  passed  forbidding 
young  people  or  children  to  walk  or  play  in  the  streets  on 
Sunday  evening,  for  the  reason  that  such  recreation  "was 
very  prejudiciall  to  the  good  of  their  souls,  that  being 
Satan's  opportunity  to  steal  the  Word  out  of  their  hearts," 
and  the  marshal  was  directed  to  summon  such  offenders 
before  the  court.  Satan  himself  could  hardly  have  devised 
a  more  effectual  way  to  steal  the  word  out  of  young  people's 
hearts  than  such  an  interference  with  their  customary 
Sunday  evening  courtships,  and  all  right-minded  persons 
will  sympathize  with  unfortunate  Sam  Clarke,  who  was 
brought  into  court  under  this  law,  charged  with  "hankering 
about  men's  gates  the  evening  after  the  Sabbath  to  draw 
out  company  to  him."  Sam  "confessed  that  he  did  some- 
times go  out  in  the  evening  after  the  Sabbath,  but  withal 


160  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

said  that  he  went  upon  business."  Being  asked  "what 
business  he  had  when  he  was  hankering  at  Roger  Alling's 
gate,"  he  replied  that  he  "remembered  not."  This  sudden 
failure  of  memory  on  Sam's  part  evidently  awakened  sym- 
pathetic recollections  in  the  breasts  of  the  magistrates,  who 
pressed  their  inquiries  no  farther  but  postponed  the  case, 
with  a  solemn  warning  to  Sam  to  consider  "what  the  Scrip- 
ture saith,  that  he  who  being  often  reproved  hardeneth  his 
neck  shall  suddenly  be  cut  off  and  that  without  a  remedy." 
As  nothing  more  is  heard  of  Sam's  case,  let  us  hope  that  on 
subsequent  Sunday  evenings,  instead  of  being  left  to 
hanker  about  Roger  Alling's  gate,  he  came  to  anchor  inside 
the  house,  and  did  not  forget  the  business  he  came  on. 


Judicial  Suppression  of  Criticisms. 

The  sanctity  with  which  the  Sunday  laws  were  invested 
as  ordinances  of  God,  was  extended  for  the  same  reason 
to  the  rest  of  the  Scripture  code,  and  logically  to  the  divine 
representative,  the  State,  which  proclaimed  and  enforced 
them.  In  1646  Thomas  Blatchley  was  forced  to  apologize 
"for  giving  the  court  some  offence,  and  neglecting  the 
imadge  of  God  in  the  magistrates."  "Bamfield  Bell  being 
reproved  by  William  Paine  for  singing  profane  songs, 
answered  and  said:  You  are  one  of  the  holy  brethren  who 
will  lye  for  advantage.  Mr.  Evans  testified  that  it  was  his 
constant  frame  to  reproach  those  who  walked  in  the  wayes 
of  God.  The  premises  being  considered,  the  centence  of 
the  court  was  that  he  be  severely  whipped."  Criticisms  of 
the  higher  powers  whether  the  magistrates,  the  minister 
or  the  church,  however  privately  expressed,  were  ferreted 
out  and  punished.  An  important  case  of  this  kind  which 
is  reported  at  great  length  in  the  records  occurred  in  1646. 
The  defendants  were  three  ladies  of  excellent  social  posi- 
tion, Mrs.  Brewster,  Mrs.  Moore  and  Mrs.  Leach,  and  they 
were  charged  with  "severall  miscarriages  of  a  publique 


THE    SEAT    OF    JUDICIAL    TRIBUNALS.  161 

nature."  These  public  miscarriages  consisted  of  remarks 
in  a  private  conversation  behind  closed  doors  in  Mrs. 
Leach's  house,  partly  overheard  by  two  servants  of  Mrs. 
Leach  by  assiduous  listening  at  the  keyhole.  These  two 
servants,  whose  character  the  record  shows  to  have  been 
notoriously  bad,  were  the  sole  witnesses  to  the  fact;  they  also 
admitted  that  they  had  heard  some  parts  of  the  conversation 
imperfectly,  and  were  not  quite  clear  in  their  recollection 
as  to  others. 

Mrs.  Brewster,  as  the  principal  culprit,  was  put  on  trial 
first.  The  charges  against  her  were  twelve  in  number,  of 
which  the  first  two  related  to  criticisms  of  Mr.  Davenport's 
doctrinal  views.  "Job  and  Elizabeth  both  affirme  that  Mrs. 
Brewster,  speaking  of  a  passage  in  Mr.  Davenport's  sermon, 
said  'Mr.  Davenport  makes  the  people  believe  that  to  come 
into  the  church  is  as  much  as  the  receiving  of  Christ.' " 
And  again  "Job  and  Elizabeth  affirme  that  Mrs.  Brewster, 
speaking  of  something  Mr.  Davenport  had  delivered  upon 
Ephes.  iv,  12,  said  that  it  made  her  sermon  sicke  and  that 
when  she  came  home  she  badde  her  son  make  waste 
paper  of  it,  which  she  said  Elizabeth  conceiveth  was  spoken 
of  his  noats  of  Mr.  Davenport's  sermon."  The  other 
charges,  which  were  all  supported  by  the  testimony  of  Job 
and  Elizabeth,  were  that  Mrs.  Brewster,  in  the  same  con- 
versation, had  referred  to  the  method  of  giving  in  the  weekly 
contributions  by  going  forward,  as  too  much  "like  going 
up  to  the  altar  in  masse;"  that  she  criticised  the  proceedings 
of  the  church  in  Mrs.  Eaton's  case  and  in  some  other  cases, 
and  had  spoken  disparagingly  of  church  membership. 
Also  that  she  had  consorted  with  some  excommunicated 
persons  and  had  on  one  occasion  drank  out  of  the  same 
cup  with  one  of  them,  and  that  she  had  expressed  pity  for 
some  convicts  as  having  been  "cruelly  whipped."  A 
supplementary  count  added  by  the  magistrates  charged 
that  since  the  proceedings  against  her  were  commenced 
she  had  rated  the  virtuous  Job  and  Elizabeth  soundly  for 
their  eaves-dropping  and  tale-bearing  with  expressions 


162  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

more  commendable  for  their  truth  than  their  elegance. 
The  court  impugned  such  language  as  "uncomely  and  sin- 
ful," citing  the  parallel  case  of  "Michaell  the  Arcangell, 
who  durst  not  carry  it  so  with  the  Divell  though  he  had 
matter  enough  against  him." 

Mrs.  Brewster  defended  herself  with  spirit,  denying  some 
parts  of  the  language  charged  and  explaining  others,  and 
altogether  held  her  ground  so  well  that  the  magistrates 
became  somewhat  disconcerted.  Hoping  to  weaken  her 
by  a  flank  attack,  the  court  suddenly  sprung  a  new  charge 
against  her,  to  wit,  that  she  had  retailed  wrine  to  several 
persons  in  smaller  quantities  than  her  license  authorized. 
To  this  she  retorted  that  three  members  of  the  court  had 
been  among  her  customers  in  the  sales  referred  to,  and  that 
she  "hoped  they  had  not  been  laying  snares  for  her."  The 
inculpated  magistrates  squirmed  vigorously  at  this  home- 
thrust,  and  after  some  very  lame  attempts  at  explanation 
on  their  part  the  court  dropped  that  subject  of  inquiry. 

In  the  case  against  Mrs.  Moore,  who  was  next  arraigned, 
the  pious  and  orthodox  Job  was  again  the  leading  witness. 
He  testified  that  Mrs.  Moore  had,  in  family  prayers,  in 
opposition  to  Mr.  Davenport's  sermon  as  he  (Job)  con- 
ceiveth,  spoken  of  "pastors  and  teachers  since  Christ 
ascended  to  heaven  as  being  but  the  inventions  of  men." 
Also  that  in  the  talk  with  Mrs.  Brewster  he  had  overheard 
her  say,  "A  vayle  is  before  the  eyes  of  ministers  and  people 
and  till  that  is  taken  away  they  cannot  be  turned  to 
the  Lord."  These  heinous  charges  were  confirmed  by 
Elizabeth  in  substance,  "though  she  remembered  not  all 
the  particulars."  Thomas  Kimberley  took  the  stand  as  a 
volunteer  witness  and  recounted  a  lengthy  argument  which 
he  had  had  with  Mrs.  Moore,  in  which  she  maintained  with 
numerous  citations  of  Scriptures  "that  the  Angels  of  the 
Seven  Churches  of  Asia  were  sperits,  not  men."  Mr. 
Kimberley  replied  that  "there  were  two  sorts  of  angells, 
some  sperits,  some  in  the  flesh,  but  Mrs.  Moore,  said  he, 
pished  at  it." 


THE    SEAT   OF   JUDICIAL   TRIBUNALS.  163 

At  this  point  the  governor  could  restrain  himself  no 
longer,  but  sailed  in  with  a  lucid  refutation  of  Mrs.  Moore's 
heretical  views.  He  fully  supported  Mr.  Kimberley's 
statement  respecting  the  biology  of  angels  and  clearly 
demonstrated  that  pastors  and  teachers  of  the  church  in 
New  Haven  were  as  genuine  a  species  of  angels  as  any 
other.  Having  demolished  Mrs.  Moore's  false  theories 
with  much  learning  and  eloquence,  he  closed  his  remarks 
by  a  practical  application,  warning  her  that  "it  was  not  to 
be  suffered  that  she  should  blaspheme  and  revyle  the  holy 
ordynances  of  Christ  and  the  people  of  God  and  by  spread- 
ing her  errors,  corrupt  and  disturb  the  people  of  this  place." 

Mrs.  Leach's  turn  came  next,  "being  charged  that,  upon 
a  question  or  conference  about  joyning  with  this  church, 
she  had  said  to  Mrs.  Brewster  that  she  sometime  had  a 
mynd  to  join  but  now  declined  it  because  she  found  so 
many  untruthes  among  them."  She  boldly  admitted  the 
truth  of  the  charge  and  justified  the  remark  by  reference 
to  the  numerous  church  scandals  which  had  occasioned  it. 
The  governor,  however,  told  her  that  these  "were  a  cleare 
evidence  of  the  church's  integryty,  and  that  upon  such  a 
ground  any  might  have  declyned  Christ's  famyly  because 
there  was  a  theife,  a  divell  in  it,  and  might  have  reproached 
the  primitive  pure  church  at  Jerusalem  because  Ananias 
and  Sapphira  were  punished  for  lying."  To  all  which  Mrs. 
Leach  "neither  excused  nor  replyed,  but  spoke  uncomely 
for  her  sex  and  her  age,  soe  that  her  carriage  offended  the 
whole  court." 

In  conclusion,  the  defendants  were  all  found  guilty,  and 
"upon  consideration  of  the  nature  and  weight  of  the 
offences"  were  bound  over  for  trial  before  a  higher  court. 
What  became  of  the  case  is  unknown,  as  the  next  volume 
of  the  records  has  long  been  lost.  It  is  probable  that  heavy 
fines  were  imposed  upon  all  the  defendants,  for  Mrs. 
Brewster  soon  afterwards  married  a  Mr.  Pell,  and  the  later 
records  disclose  that  for  several  years  Mr.  Pell  was  being 
regularly  nagged  and  dunned  by  the  court  for  the  amount 


164:        CHRONICLES  OF  NEW  HAVEN  GREEN. 

of  a  fine  which  had  been  imposed  upon  his  wife  before  her 
marriage.  It  is  satisfactory  to  add  that  Mr.  Pell  per- 
tinaciously evaded  its  payment  and  apparently  with  success. 


Prosecutions  of  Quakers. 

This  jealous  intolerance  of  any  reflections  upon  the 
magistrates,  the  ministers  or  the  church  was  not  founded 
exclusively  in  religious  bigotry,  but  was,  in  part,  political 
in  its  nature;  such  criticisms  being  regarded  as  seditious 
opposition  to  the  theocratic  institutions  of  the  state. 
Hence  the  laws  against  "Quakers  and  other  Herreticks," 
which  were  passed  in  1658,  and  which  were  borrowed  from 
Massachusetts  Bay,  where  a  similar  form  of  government 
prevailed,  are  to  be  regarded  not  so  much  as  an  outbreak 
of  religious  persecution  as  the  desperate  defence  of  a  totter- 
ing civil  order.  Nowhere  do  the  early  New  Haven  courts 
appear  so  disadvantageous^  as  in  those  trials  where  this 
politico-religious  fanaticism  was  stirred  into  action.  The 
case  against  Richard  Crabbe,  of  Stamford,  affords  a  painful 
illustration.  Crabbe  and  his  wife  were  charged  with  "clam- 
orous and  reproachful  speeches  against  the  government  and 
the  ministry  and  officers  and  for  neglecting  the  meetings 
for  sanctification  of  the  Saboth."  They  had  been  suspected 
of  sympathizing  with  the  Quakers,  and  when  officers  broke 
into  their  house  in  an  unsuccessful  search  for  Quaker 
books,  Crabbe's  wife  in  a  fit  of  hysterical  excitement  had 
bitterly  reproached  the  laws  and  the  magistrates  which 
authorized  such  proceedings.  There  was  not  a  particle  of 
proof  against  Crabbe  personally,  and  he  not  only  denied 
having  reviled  the  government  or  the  ministers,  but  on 
being  catechised  by  the  court  as  to  his  views  on  the  Sab- 
bath, they  seemed  to  be  orthodox.  He  admitted  that  his 
wife  (who  was  not  present  in  court  on  account  of  illness) 
had  used  opprobrious  language  to  the  officers,  but  said  he 
could  not  prevent  it.  He  was  told  that  "if  his  wife  speake 


THE    SEAT    OF   JUDICIAL   TRIBUNALS.  165 

such  words  and  he  countenance  her  in  it,  he  must  answer 
it."  Crabbe,  who  bore  himself  throughout  with  great 
dignity  and  patience,  then  asked  permission  to  say  a  few 
words  concerning  his  wife,  "not  as  he  said  that  he  would 
justify  her  in  any  evill,  but  to  acquaint  the  court  with  some- 
thing concerning  her.  The  woman,  said  he,  was  a  well 
bred  woman  in  England,  a  zealous  professour  from  her 
childhood,  almost  beyond  example,  but  when  she  is  sud- 
denly surprized  she  hath  not  power  to  restrane  her  pas- 
sions." To  this  the  governor  replied,  "that  what  he  said 
did  greatly  aggravate  her  miscarriages,  for  if  she  had  been 
a  great  professour  it  was  certain  she  had  been  an  ill-practiser 
in  which  you  have  countenanced  her  and  borne  her  up 
which  may  be  accounted  yours,  reviling  Mr.  Bishop  as  a 
priest  of  Baal  and  ye  members  as  liars  and  that  Mr.  Bishop 
preached  for  filthy  lucre."  He  was  told  "to  consider  his 
way  how  yt  after  a  greate  profession  made  he  had  now  been 
for  a  long  time  a  neglecter  of  ye  ordinances,  a  reproacher  of 
ye  ministry  and  his  wife  also  whom  he  hath  not  reproved, 
that  their  case  seems  scarce  to  be  paralleled  in  these  times, 
that  he  having  such  light  and  his  wife  such  an  one  as  he 
described  her  to  be  should  fall  into  such  abominable  courses 
to  rail  upon  the  ministers,  calling  them  Baal's  priests,  etc., 
and  the  people  of  God,  calling  them  traitors,  liars,  villains, 
etc.,  neglecting  the  ordinances  and  the  Sabbaths  and  yt 
every  ordinary  eye  may  see  marks  of  apostasy  in  them." 
The  court  being  now  out  of  breath  "inquired  whether  he 
had  anything  more  to  say,  to  which  he  replyed  the  Lord 
help  him  but  farther  said  not."  He  was  found  guilty  and 
fined  thirty  pounds.  He  was  also  required  "to  give  a  bond 
of  one  hundred  pounds  for  his  good  behavior  and  to  make  a 
publique  acknowledgment  at  Stamford  of  the  offences" 
which  he  denied  having  committed,  and  which  certainly  had 
not  been  proved  against  him. 

As  Crabbe  was  not  convicted  of  Quakerism  or  heresy  but 
only  of  his  wife's  censorious  language  toward  government 
officials,  his  case  does  not  form  one  of  the  prosecutions 


166  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

under  the  anti-Quaker  law.  These  prosecutions  were  four 
in  number.  The  case  of  Humphrey  Norton,  who  was 
whipped  on  New  Haven  Green  in  1658,  was  referred  to  in 
a  former  paper.  The  only  other  Quaker  who  was  whipped 
in  New  Haven  Colony  was  Arthur  Smith,  who  was  brought 
from  Southold  in  1659,  charged  with  expressing  the  follow- 
ing "dangerous  and  corrupt  opinions,  to  wit,  'that  there 
was  no  divell;  that  the  seven  churches  of  Asia  were  seven 
vials,  that  the  three  friends  of  Job  were  the  three  persons 
of  the  Trinity;  and  that  infants  were  not  charged  with 
Adam's  sin  till  they  sinned  personally."  Being  required 
to  answer  concerning  these  appalling  propositions,  the 
"court  found  his  answers  to  be  both  prophane,  absurd, 
conceited  and  ridiculous"  and  he  was  ordered  to  be  whipped 
and  also  to  give  a  bond  of  fifty  pounds  or  quit  the  jurisdic- 
tion. In  1 66 1  John  Bud  of  Southold  was  fined  five  pounds 
for  censuring  the  persecution  of  Quakers,  and  commend- 
ing that  sect  as  "an  honest  and  godly  people."  The  only 
other  case  was  that  of  Edward  Barnes,  a  mariner,  charged 
with  being  a  Quaker,  who  was  merely  required  to  remain 
on  board  his  ship  while  she  staid  in  port.  These  four  cases 
of  Norton,  Smith,  Bud  and  Barnes  make  up  the  total  of 
Quaker  prosecutions  in  New  Haven  Colony. 


Witchcraft  Trials. 

In  its  dealings  with  witchcraft,  the  court  appears  in  a 
more  creditable  light  than  in  heresy  trials.  The  only  per- 
son ever  tried  in  New  Haven  Colony  for  witchcraft  was 
Mrs.  Goodman,  who  had  herself  initiated  the  proceedings 
by  charging  some  of  her  neighbors  with  slanderously 
calling  her  a  witch.  As  this  trial  was  reviewed  in  a  former 
paper  it  will  not  be  enlarged  upon.  All  things  considered, 
the  court  showed  a  conservatism  which  was  unusual  in  such 
trials  at  that  period,  and  though  the  defendant  was 
imprisoned  for  a  few  days,  and  warned  that  there  was  grave 


THE    SEAT    OF    JUDICIAL    TRIBUNALS.  167 

cause  for  suspicion  against  her,  she  was  in  the  end  only 
required  to  find  sureties  for  her  good  conduct.  There  were 
but  two  other  cases  before  the  court  in  which  the  question 
of  witchcraft  was  involved,  both  of  them,  like  that  of  Mrs. 
Goodman,  actions  for  slander.  Of  these  one  was  brought  in 
1658  against  Roger  Ludlow  by  Thomas  Staples  of  Fairfield, 
who  charged  Ludlow  with  defamation  in  calling  his  wife 
a  witch.  After  a  long  hearing  the  court  "saw  no  cause 
to  lay  any  blame  as  a  witch  on  Goodwife  Staples  and 
judged  that  Mr.  Ludlow  had  done  her  wrong"  and  awarded 
ten  pounds  damages  to  the  plaintiff  with  costs  of  suit. 

The  other  case  was  one  of  more  tragic  interest.  William 
Meeker  charged  Thomas  Mulliner  with  defamation  in  say- 
ing that  he  had  bewitched  Mulliner's  pigs.  It  appeared 
that  several  of  Mulliner's  pigs  had  died  in  a  strange  way, 
and  when  the  last  remaining  animal  was  taken  sick  he 
resolved  to  investigate  the  nature  of  its  ailment.  In  this 
spirit  of  inquiry  he  brought  the  languishing  porker  to  a 
fire  and  having  cut  off  its  ears  and  tail  consigned  them 
to  the  flames.  As  this  soothing  remedy  failed  to  restore 
the  pig  to  its  wonted  cheerfulness,  he  gently  lifted  the 
remainder  of  the  patient  and  put  that  on  the  fire  also. 
Strange  to  say,  so  far  from  accepting  thankfully  these  kind 
measures  of  relief,  as  a  pig  mentally  well-balanced  might  be 
expected  to  do,  the  creature  vociferously  expostulated  and 
concluded  by  shuffling  off  its  mortal  coil  in  a  spiteful  mood 
and  disagreeable  manner.  This  unreasonable,  not  to  say 
hoggish  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  brute  afforded  clear 
proof  to  Mr.  Mulliner's  mind  that  the  pigs  had  all  been 
bewitched,  and  that  William  Meeker,  with  whom  he  had 
had  a  quarrel,  was  somehow  concerned  in  it.  On  the  trial 
of  the  case,  however,  he  failed  to  convince  the  court  to  that 
effect,  and  he  was  ordered  to  give  bonds  that  he  would  cut 
short  all  crooked  tales  to  Goodman  Meeker's  discredit. 


168  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 


Slander  Suits. 

The  number  of  slander  suits  which  were  evolved  in  the 
small  and  select  community  of  New  Haven  out  of  neighbor- 
hood quarrels  and  scandals  was  quite  noteworthy  and  leads 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  the  chief  reliance  for 
social  entertainment,  in  the  absence  of  more  wholesome 
amusements.  Our  ancestors,  not  having  the  inestimable 
privilege  of  newspapers  to  wash  the  dirty  linen  of  society 
in  public,  were  forced  to  depend  on  the  courts  for  that 
service,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  opera- 
tion afforded  as  much  popular  enjoyment  as  it  does  at  the 
present  time.  A  case  in  the  higher  circles  which  doubtless 
attracted  a  large  audience  to  the  court  room  was  that  of 
Lancelot  Fuller  and  wife  against  Francis  Newman  (after- 
wards governor)  and  wife.  Mrs.  Newman  was  charged 
with  spreading  scandalous  insinuations  against  Mrs.  Fuller, 
to  the  effect  that  she  had  invited  young  Mr.  Stone  to 
breakfast  when  her  husband  was  absent.  It  appeared  that 
the  ladies  had  had  several  vivacious  conferences  about  the 
matter  before  it  came  to  court,  and  that  the  husbands  had 
mixed  in  and  aggravated  the  trouble,  Mrs.  Newman  had 
proffered  a  qualified  apology  for  her  remarks,  which  Mrs. 
Fuller  rejected  as  unsatisfactory.  Mrs.  Newman  retorted 
that  "then  she  must  goe  without  satisfaction  and  she  had 
best  let  the  matter  die  lest  it  should  bring  out  worse."  Mr. 
Newman  then  interposed  with  a  view,  it  was  said,  "to 
heale  the  business,"  and  in  pursuance  of  that  laudable 
purpose  "told  Mrs.  Fuller  in  a  threteninge  manner  that 
she  had  once  been  brought  into  court  for  her  tongue  and 
that  he  would  tame  her  tongue  for  he  knew  what  it 
was."  Mrs.  Fuller  denied  that  she  had  been  brought 
into  court  for  her  tongue  and  said  "she  would  scorn 
to  goe  up  and  down  to  carry  lyes."  Mr.  Newman  "asked 
if  he  had  told  any  lyes  about  her;  she  said  his  wife 
had  and  that  he  and  his  wife  were  one."  Rebecca  Grigson 


THE    SEAT    OF   JUDICIAL   TRIBUNALS.  169 

testified  that  "Mr.  Newman  told  Mrs.  Fuller  to  doe  her 
worst,  and  she  told  him  to  doe  his  worst  and  that 
Mrs.  Fuller  was  high  but  not  so  high  as  he."  Mr.  Fuller 
testified  that  it  was  himself  and  not  his  wife  who  invited 
Mr.  Stone  to  breakfast,  and  in  the  end  the  court  with  great 
impartiality  blamed  all  the  parties  to  the  quarrel,  and  read 
a  lecture  to  each;  "and  for  Mr.  Newman  the  court  found 
that  he  fell  short  of  his  duty  in  controlling  his  wife  and  in 
using  exasperating  language  to  Mrs.  Fuller,  and  therefore 
thought  fitt  and  ordered  that  Mr.  Newman  pay  five  pounds 
to  Lancelot  Fuller  and  his  wife  to  repaire  her  in  point  of 
injury." 

A  more  moving  "case  of  defamation"  which  came  before 
the  court  in  1662  was  that  of  Edmund  Dorman  against 
Jeremiah  Johnson.  The  plaintiff  informed  the  court  that 
the  defendant  had  reported  at  John  Clarke's  house  "with 
sircumstances  of  scoffing"  that  he  heard  the  plaintiff  at 
prayer  in  a  swamp  pleading  with  the  Lord  to  influence  an 
obdurate  damsel  to  accept  his  matrimonial  advances. 
"Lord,  thou  knowest  my  necessity  and  canst  supply  it. 
Lord,  bend  and  bow  her  will  and  make  her  sensible  of  my 
condition  and  submissable  to  me."  The  sympathetic  court 
scolded  Jeremiah  roundly  for  treating  poor  Dorman's  for- 
lorn appeal  with  "sircumstances  of  scoffing"  and  reminded 
him  that  "it  was  a  fearfull  thing  to  come  to  that  height  of 
sinning  as  to  sit  in  the  seats  of  ye  scorner." 


Conjugal  Quarrels. 

Cases  of  matrimonial  infelicity  occasionally  came  before 
the  courts  and  were  generally  disposed  of  by  good  advice 
to  both  parties.  Occasionally  the  advice  would  be  rein- 
forced by  persuasions  of  quite  an  urgent  character. 

"Ebenezer  Brown  and  Hannah  his  wife  having  made 
many  and  grievous  complaints  against  each  other  before 
ye  authorities,  the  court  heard  both  sides,  and  finding  that 
both  had  gone  on  in  a  most  abominable  way,  to  the 


170  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

dishonor  of  God  and  the  scandall  of  ye  Christian  profession, 
ordered  that  sentence  of  corporall  punishment  be  executed 
upon  Ebenezer  to-morrow  at  eight  o'clock,  and  for  Hannah 
the  court  finds  that  she  also  deserves  corp'll  punishment, 
yet  at  present  suspend  execution  on  her  promise  of  better 
behavior,  and  only  order  that  she  stand  by  her  husband 
while  sentence  is  being  executed  upon  him."  If  our 
modern  courts  were  authorized  to  try  similar  methods  of 
reconciliation  between  quarreling  partners,  divorces  for 
incompatibility  of  temper  would  be  far  less  frequent. 

Penal  Sentences. 

In  case  of  theft  and  wilful  injury  to  property,  not  only 
was  punishment  inflicted  on  the  offender,  but  he  was 
required  to  indemnify  the  injured  party.  If  he  was  not 
able  to  make  restitution,  he  was  liable  to  be  sold  for  the 
purpose,  and  this  fate  was  imposed  in  several  instances, 
among  them,  that  of  a  boy  12  years  of  age,  and  that  of  a 
little  girl  still  younger,  who  had  mischievously  set  fire  to 
a  barn.  We  read  with  less  sympathy  about  George  Wood, 
who  was  convicted  of  "  stealing  from  his  master  and  also 
lying,  cursing  himself,  threatening  to  kill  himself  and 
others,  mocking  on  his  mistris,  rebelling  against  his  master 
and  against  ye  authorities  in  this  place,  and  this  on  the 
Sabbath  daye  after  precious  means  enjoyed,  with  further 
lying  and  atheisticall  miscarriages,"  and  who  was  sentenced 
"to  be  set  in  ye  pillory  about  ye  space  of  one  hour,  and  after 
that  severely  whipped,  and  then  banished  not  to  return 
under  pain  of  death;  but  because  Mr.  Goodyeare  hath  laide 
out  some  money  for  him  and  it  is  fitte  that  it  should  be 
repaide,  the  court  gave  fourteen  days'  time  to  sell  him  in 
any  other  colony;  during  which  delay  he  is  to  lye  in  prison 
and  in  irons  that  so  farther  miscarriages  may  be  prevented 
while  he  stayes  here." 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  illustrations  that  our  ancestors 
in  their  penal  methods  sought  to  prevent  crime  and  to 


THE    SEAT    OF    JUDICIAL    TRIBUNALS.  1Y1 

protect  society,  by  making  the  offenders  bear  the  principal 
burden  of  their  misdeeds,  and  not  to  throw  it  on  the  law- 
abiding  part  of  society.  It  is  the  most  pressing  question 
of  our  criminal  jurisprudence  to-day  whether  a  return  to 
the  common  sense  principles  of  our  forefathers  is  not  our 
first  necessity,  and  whether  the  whipping  post  and  the 
treadmill,  with  proper  limitations  as  to  privacy  and  modera- 
tion, are  not  more  rational,  effective  and  just  as  a  mode  of 
preventing  crime,  than  the  enormous  and  ever-enlarging 
hotels  in  which  the  vicious,  the  brutal  and  the  lazy,  are  now 
entertained  by  the  public,  free  of  cost,  in  unaccustomed 
ease  and  abundance. 

Even  as  reformatory  agencies,  these  early  instrumentali- 
ties, by  the  mere  prospect  of  their  application,  would 
generally  develop  in  culprits  on  trial  a  feeling  of  penitence 
for  their  misdoings  which  are  quite  unknown  to  the  cheer- 
ful victims  of  our  modern  criminal  courts.  The  confession 
of  James  Hey  wood  in  1647  ^s  but  one  illustration  of  con- 
trite acknowledgments  which  were  very  common  in  those 
days,  and  which  were  often  quite  effective  in  mitigating 
the  sentence  of  the  court  from  whipping  to  a  fine,  to  the 
mutual  advantage  of  the  convict  and  the  public.  "I  owne 
my  sinne  and  my  shame  and  do  confesse  the  name  of  God 
hath  been  dishonored  and  blaspheamed  through  me  for 
my  sinne,  with  menny  circumstances  which  makes  it 
grevious,  so  that  I  have  nothing  to  say  but  doe  justify  the 
proceedings  of  the  court  in  what  God  shall  guide  their 
harts  to."  Imagine  some  old  rounder  before  one  of  our 
city  police  courts,  with  the  prospect  of  fifteen  days  in  jail, 
including  perhaps  a  Christmas  dinner,  addressing  the  court 
in  language  like  that! 

I  have  devoted  so  large  a  space  to  the  judicial  proceed- 
ings of  the  early  New  Haven  Colony,  because  the  court 
records  of  that  period  alone  are  sufficiently  detailed  to 
possess  historic  interest.  To  make  the  review  complete 
it  would  be  necessary  to  refer  to  the  numerous  political 
trials  which  arose  out  of  the  normal  state  of  popular  dis- 


172  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

content  and  rebellion  against  the  narrow  and  illiberal  form 
of  colonial  government.  Another  field  which  cannot  be  en- 
tered is  the  revolting  disclosures  of  the  records  relative  to 
outbreaks  of  criminal  vice,  the  mere  mention  of  which  here 
could  not  be  tolerated.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  state 
of  morals  in  New  Haven  County  was  far  from  idyllic,  and  if 
any  one  sighs  for  a  return  to  the  purity  and  tranquility 
which  our  pious  ancestors  enjoyed  in  the  days  of  Eaton 
and  Davenport,  he  can  be  speedily  cured  of  his  longings  by 
perusing  the  New  Haven  Colonial  Records.  One  can 
hardly  resist  the  conviction  that  much  of  the  vice  and  crime 
with  which  those  pages  are  stained,  was  due  to  the  reaction 
of  human  nature  against  the  gloomy  austerity  and  slavish 
dread  of  "the  wrath  of  God,"  which,  like  a  crushing  incubus, 
stunted  the  moral  and  mental  development  of  the  com- 
munity. Certain  it  is  that  after  the  union  with  Connecticut 
in  1665,  the  records  of  the  courts  take  on  almost  immedi- 
ately a  healthier  tone,  both  with  respect  to  morals  and  civil 
order. 


Courts  under  Connecticut  Laws. 

After  the  union  a  new  judicial  system  was  established 
under  the  laws  of  Connecticut,  including  a  County  Court 
and,  for  the  first  time,  trials  by  jury.  A  new  code  of  laws 
was  also  introduced  with  new  methods  of  trial,  which  left 
less  latitude  to  the  personal  caprices  and  prejudices  of  the 
magistrate.  During  the  rule  of  Sir  Edmund  Andross  the 
colonial  courts  were  superseded  by  courts  of  the  crown,  but 
on  his  overthrow  in  1689  the  colonial  courts  resumed  their 
sessions  under  the  Connecticut  charter.  It  is  probable  that 
forms  of  procedure  and  trial  were  not  affected  by  either 
change. 

With  the  advent  of  the  new  judicial  system  and  a  gradual 
increase  of  business,  the  court  records  fell  into  a  more  per- 
functory form,  from  which  nothing  can  be  learned  except 
the  names  of  the  parties,  the  nature  of  the  action  and  issue 


THE    SEAT    OF    JUDICIAL    TRIBUNALS.  173 

and  the  judgment  of  the  court.  There  were  no  newspapers 
for  more  than  one  hundred  years,  and  when  they  appeared 
they  made  little  or  no  reference  to  court  proceedings  until 
long  after  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  For  these 
reasons  the  annals  of  New  Haven  judicature  between  1670 
and  1820  are  almost  a  blank  as  regards  historic  incident  or 
interest.  Within  this  period  there  were  several  trials  for 
murder  and  other  capital  crimes  which  must  have  caused 
much  local  excitement,  but  they  are  not  touched  upon  in 
the  newspapers,  and  even  the  convictions  and  executions 
which  followed  are  alluded  to  not  at  all,  or  in  the  most 
meager  manner. 


Capital  Punishments. 

It  may  be  mentioned  here  that  no  capital  executions 
have  ever  taken  place  on  the  Green  unless  Nepaupuck  was 
beheaded  there  in  1639,  which  is  doubtful.  In  1646 
another  Indian  was  beheaded  in  New  Haven,  but  probably 
not  on  the  Green.  Before  1700  there  were  at  least  two 
hangings  at  Oystershell  Fields  in  the  vicinity  of  Brewery 
street,  and  between  1700  and  1800  there  were  three,  all 
which  took  place  on  the  south  bank  of  the  flats  opposite 
East  Rock,  a  few  rods  west  of  State  street  at  a  spot  which 
was  called  Hangman's  Hill  within  the  memory  of  persons 
now  living.  In  1835  a  law  was  passed  requiring  capital 
executions  to  be  had  within  the  jail  yard.  The  nearest 
approach  to  a  hanging  on  the  Green  that  I  know  of  took 
place  in  1828,  and  is  still  remembered  by  some  of  our  oldest 
citizens.  On  that  occasion  a  scaffold  was  erected  on  the 
Green  opposite  the  jail  and  a  woman  exposed  upon  it  with 
a  halter  around  her  neck  for  the  space  of  one  hour  as  a 
punishment  for  concealing  the  death  of  an  illegitimate 
child.  The  statute  prescribing  this  penalty  was  repealed 
in  1830. 


174  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

The  Amistad  Case. 

Since  1820  there  have  been  numerous  cases  tried  on  the 
Green  which  were  of  local  celebrity,  but  only  one,  previous 
to  1 86 1,  was  of  such  widespread  importance  and  interest  as 
to  require  mention  here.  This  was  the  trial  of  the  African 
negroes  who  were  taken  with  the  Spanish  slaver  Amistad 
in  1839  in  the  waters  of  Long  Island  Sound.  The  story 
of  this  trial,  and  of  the  other  legal  proceedings  growing  out 
of  it,  has  been  fully  narrated  by  Judge  Baldwin  in  a  paper 
published  by  the  Society,  and  I  will  not  repeat  it.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  the  Africans  were  charged  with  murder  and 
piracy  on  the  high  seas  and  the  influence  of  the  United 
States  government  was  strongly  exerted  to  secure  either 
their  conviction  or  their  delivery  to  the  Spanish  authorities. 
The  masterly  and  successful  defence  interposed  by  their 
principal  counsel,  Roger  S.  Baldwin,  won  for  him  a  national 
reputation,  while  the  sympathy  aroused  for  these  poor 
slaves,  who  had  bravely  vindicated  their  right  to  freedom, 
was  one  of  the  factors  in  the  growth  of  anti-slavery  senti- 
ment then  forming  in  the  public  mind.  During  the  two 
years  that  the  fate  of  the  negroes  was  in  abeyance  they  were 
confined  in  New  Haven  jail  on  Church  street,  and  in  pleas- 
ant weather  were  frequently  taken  over  to  the  Green  for 
exercise;  at  which  time  they  capered  and  tumbled  about 
on  the  grass  in  a  manner  highly  entertaining  to  the  numer- 
ous spectators. 


The  New  Haven  Bar. 

A  chronicle  of  the  judicial  proceedings  associated  with 
the  Green  would  be  grossly  defective  if  it  omitted  refer- 
ence to  the  lawyers,  who  in  their  several  days  and  genera- 
tions were  the  principal  actors  in  those  proceedings  and 
did  most  to  make  them  interesting  and  memorable,  especi- 
ally to  the  parties  litigant.  In  such  a  chronicle,  however, 


THE    SEAT    OF   JUDICIAL   TRIBUNALS.  175 

a  chapter  on  the  New  Haven  Bar  prior  to  1730  would  be 
like  the  famous  chapter  on  "The  Snakes  in  Ireland"  inas- 
much as  prior  to  that  year  there  was,  properly  speaking, 
no  New  Haven  Bar  in  existence.  It  would  therefore  be 
in  striking  contrast  with  a  chapter  on  the  Bar  at  the  present 
time,  which  might  almost  be  entitled  "On  the  Snakes  Out 
of  Ireland,"  especially  since  that  prolific  incubator,  the 
Yale  Law  School,  has  been  hatching  out  these  emblems 
of  wisdom  in  annual  swarms  as  "rigler"  members  of  the 
profession. 

Before  1708  any  person  might  appear  in  court  as  attorney 
for  another  in  any  civil  cause,  but  in  that  year  a  law  v  was 
passed  forbidding  such  appearance  unless  the  attorney 
should  be  approved  by  the  court  and  take  an  attorney's 
oath.  In  1725  these  practising  pettifoggers  began  to 
attract  attention  by  their  "pernicious  activity,"  and  to 
check  the  growing  evil  the  Legislature  imposed  a  special 
tax  on  attorneys  "in  proportion  to  their  faculty."  The  tax, 
however,  seems  to  have  had  a  stimulating  effect,  for  in  1730 
the  Legislature  felt  called  upon  to  pass  another  act  declar- 
ing that  "of  late  so  many  persons  have  taken  upon  them- 
selves to  be  attorneys  at  the  Bar  that  quarrels  and  law  suits 
are  multiplied,  and  the  king's  good  subjects  disturbed." 
It  thereupon  provided  that  thereafter  there  should  be  only 
eleven  attorneys  in  the  colony,  four  in  Hartford  and  two 
in  each  of  the  others,  and  that  these  authorized  attorneys 
should  be  appointed  by  the  County  Court  and  be  subject  to 
removal  by  it.  Under  this  act,  which  may  be  said  to  have 
founded  the  New  Haven  Bar  as  a  branch  of  the  court,  the 
County  Court  of  New  Haven,  in  November,  1730, 
appointed  Mr.  William  Addams,  of  Milford,  to  be  one  of 
the  two  attorneys  for  that  county,  and  apparently  made 
no  other  appointment;  so  that  Mr.  Addams,  so  far  as  I 
can  discover,  was  the  first  regular  member  of  the  New 
Haven  Bar.  In  1731,  that  part  of  the  law  which  restricted 
the  number  of  attorneys  was  repealed,  and  in  November, 
1734,  Messrs.  Daniel  Edwards,  of  New  Haven;  Elihu  Hall, 


1Y6  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN   GREEN. 

of  Wallingford,  and  Michael  Hill  of  Guilford,  "were 
admitted  by  the  court  to  the  office  of  attorney  and  sworn, 
according  to  law."  In  1737,  Samuel  Darling,  of  New 
Haven,  was  admitted;  in  1742,  Robert  Fairchild,  of  Dur- 
ham. In  1743,  Messrs.  Samuel  Andrews  and  Jared 
Ingersoll,  both  of  Milford,  were  admitted,  and  in  1753 
Messrs.  Ezra  Stiles,  of  New  Haven,  and  James  Hillhouse, 
of  New  London,  were  similarly  enrolled.  From  this  time 
on  there  seems  to  have  been  no  lack  of  legal  talent  at  the 
command  of  the  New  Haven  public,  and  before  the  century 
closed,  Jared  and  Jonathan  Ingersoll,  James  Abraham 
Hillhouse,  Roger  Sherman,  Pierpont  Edwards,  Nathan 
Smith  and  others  had  already  placed  the  New  Haven  Bar 
in  the  high  rank  which  it  has  ever  since  maintained  in  the 
public  esteem  and  in  national  reputation.  From  1800  to 
1828,  David  Daggett,  Simeon  Baldwin,  William  Bristol, 
Seth  P.  Staples,  Dyer  White  and  Eleazar  Foster  were  the 
most  prominent  among  the  practitioners  in  the  old  Court 
House  of  1763;  and  during  the  latter  part  of  that  period 
Ralph  and  Charles  A.  Ingersoll,  Roger  S.  Baldwin,  Dennis 
Kimberley  and  others  came  to  the  front  rank  of  the  genera- 
tion whose  career  was  well  begun  when  the  third  Court 
House  was  occupied  in  1828.  Later  in  that  generation, 
and  among  its  most  distinguished  leaders,  are  to  be  included 
Alfred  Blackman,  Clark  Bissell  and  Henry  Dutton,  who 
came  to  New  Haven  at  different  periods,  after  the  Court 
House  of  1828  was  erected.  Such  was  the  bar  of  New 
Haven  which  was  identified  with  the  closing  period  of  the 
Green's  judicial  history.  To  quote  the  words  of  ex-Gov- 
ernor Harrison  in  a  recent  obituary  address:  "The  group 
of  men  who  led  and  controlled  that  bar  was  large,  very 
large  in  comparison  with  its  whole  membership,  and  nobody 
who  ever  saw  those  men  can  ever  forget  them.  It  was 
a  splendid  galaxy  of  great  lawyers — such  a  galaxy  as  had 
never  been  seen  here  before  and  has  never  been  seen  here 
since." 


THE    SEAT    OF   JUDICIAL    TRIBUNALS.  177 

Emoluments  of  the  Bar. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  glance  for  a  moment  at  the 
emoluments  of  the  New  Haven  Bar  during  its  earlier  years, 
so  far  as  light  can  be  gathered  on  that  obscure  subject,  if 
only  to  illustrate  the  modest  returns  which  have  always 
been  realized  by  that  ill-paid  body  of  public  benefactors. 

The  law  of  1730,  which  has  been  already  referred  to, 
provided  that,  "the  attorneys'  fees  of  the  county  or  inferior 
courts  should  be  ten  shillings  and  no  more,  and  at  the 
Superior  Court,  twenty  shillings  and  no  more."  This 
attempt  to  restrict  the  liberality  of  grateful  clients,  however, 
proved  a  failure,  and  in  order  to  obviate  the  habitual  dis- 
regard of  a  legal  ordinance  by  an  appreciative  public,  the 
law  was  subsequently  superseded  by  a  rule  of  the  bar  that 
the  rates  of  compensation  for  the  various  kinds  of  legal 
service  should  be  not  less  than  certain  specified  amounts. 
It  is  believed  that  this  wise  regulation  has  ever  since  been 
conformed  to  by  the  profession  with  loyal  and  honorable 
fidelity.  One  difficulty  in  the  way  of  establishing  fixed 
rates  by  law  in  the  last  century  arose  from  the  fact  that 
lawyers  were  generally  obliged  to  take  their  pay  in  materials 
which  had  no  fixed  relation  to  any  uniform  standard  of 
value.  Some  light  is  thrown  on  this  point  by  an  adver- 
tisement in  the  Connecticut  Journal  of  December  24,  1777, 
in  which  Pierpont  Edwards  offers  to  give  "rum,  sugar  and 
ginger  by  retail  in  exchange  for  flax,  butter,  and  eggs  or 
Continental  currency."  This  is  the  only  instance  I  have 
been  able  to  discover  where  a  member  of  the  New  Haven 
Bar  gave  public  notice,  and  especially  on  the  day  before 
Christmas,  that  he  had  more  of  the  aforesaid  genial  ingre- 
dients on  hand  than  he  required  for  his  own  consumption. 
Two  months  later  we  find  another  advertisement  by  Mr. 
Edwards,  offering  cart  tires  and  old  iron  for  sale,  which 
seems  to  indicate  that  the  lawyers  of  that  day  stood  by  their 
clients  to  the  last  as  faithfully  as  they  do  now. 


178  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 


Mayor  Lewis  and  General  Terry. 

In  December,  1862,  the  courts  took  their  departure 
from  the  State  House  to  the  new  City  Hall,  on  Church 
street,  and  the  Green  ceased  to  be  the  seat  of  judicial 
tribunals.  Of  the  fifty-seven  members  of  the  local  bar 
then  enrolled  in  the  Connecticut  Register,  eleven  now 
survive;  most  of  them  still  in  harness,  and  all  of  them,  with- 
out exception,  having  achieved  successful  and  honored 
careers  in  their  profession  and  the  public  service.  As  we 
look  through  that  list  of  attorneys  of  1862,  our  eyes  rest 
upon  the  names  of  two,  now  gone,  who  had  both  been 
prominent  officials  of  the  courts  while  they  held  their  ses- 
sions on  the  Green,  and  whose  subsequent  careers  of  useful- 
ness and  distinction  invest  their  names  with  a  special  interest 
as  among  those  which  New  Haven  will  longest  cherish  with 
gratitude  and  honor.  The  first  of  these  names,  in  order, 
is  that  of  Henry  G.  Lewis.  He  had  been  Clerk  of  the 
Superior  Court  from  1847  to  1851,  and  in  1862  he  gave  up 
his  legal  practice  to  engage  in  other  pursuits.  In  1870  he 
was  elected  Mayor  of  New  Haven,  and  continued  in  office 
till  1877,  and  was  again  elected  for  two  years  in  1880.  To 
his  foresight,  public  spirit  and  energy  during  his  first  official 
term  as  Mayor,  in  the  face  of  strong  opposition,  New 
Haven  is  indebted  for  the  system  of  sewers  which  all  now 
see  to  have  been  indispensable  for  the  comfort  and  health 
of  the  community.  He  took  an  active  interest  in  the 
improvement  of  our  streets  and  it  was  during  his  first 
administration  that  their  general  reconstruction  with  Tel- 
ford  pavements  was  begun.  During  his  second  mayoralty 
he  promoted  the  opening  of  East  Rock  Park  and  after  his 
retirement  from  official  life  he  aided  in  the  establishment 
of  our  present  public  park  system.  It  was  his  warm  heart 
and  ready  brain  which  originated  that  New  Haven  institu- 
tion known  as  "Orphans'  Day,"  and  his  bust,  fitly  placed  on 
the  summit  of  East  Rock  Park,  which  he  helped  to  create, 


THE    SEAT    OF   JUDICIAL    TRIBUNALS.  179 

looks  with  equal  fitness  toward  one  of  those  orphan  homes 
which  he  so  warmly  befriended. 

The  other  name  at  which  we  pause  is  that  of  Alfred  H. 
Terry.  He,  too,  had  been  Clerk  of  the  Superior  Court, 
holding  that  office  from  1854  to  1860.  Previous  to  that 
time,  while  still  a  youth,  he  had  acted  as  Assistant  Town 
Clerk  for  several  years,  and  it  is  an  interesting  circum- 
stance in  connection  with  the  subject  of  this  paper,  that 
in  that  capacity  he  transcribed  an  entire  volume  of  the  New 
Haven  Colony  records  (from  1649  to  1662)  with  a  view  to 
their  improved  legibility  and  preservation.  Thus  it  hap- 
pens that  almost  the  first  volume  of  the  records  of  judicial 
proceedings  on  New  Haven  Green,  as  well  as  part  of  the 
very  last,  are  in  his  clear  and  graceful  handwriting.  In 
July,  1860,  he  gave  up  his  clerical  office  and  a  year  later 
was  on  the  field  of  battle  at  the  head  of  the  regiment  which 
he  had  organized,  developing  those  splendid  qualities  which 
afterwards  drew  from  Admiral  Porter  the  admiring  enco- 
mium that  "he  was  the  beau  ideal  of  a  soldier  and  a  gentle- 
man." No  characterization  could  be  more  fitting,  for 
never  was  a  more  gallant  spirit  graced  with  a  finer  culture, 
or  enshrined  in  a  purer  and  more  magnanimous  soul.  New 
Haven  will  honor  itself  when  it  shall  place  the  figure  of  the 
chivalrous  soldier  near  to  that  of  the  public-spirited  civilian 
on  those  heights  which  are  consecrated  to  the  memory  of 
its  patriot  heroes,  its  faithful  officials  and  its  generous 
benefactors. 


NOTE  TO  PAPER  No.  V. 


NOTE  i  (page  150). 

Had  Peters  compared  the  so-called  "Blue  laws"  with  those  of  other 
colonies  and  of  England  at  the  same  period,  his  book  would  always 
have  been  cited  as  a  tribute  in  honor  of  New  Haven  and  Connecticut. 
In  Virginia,  absence  from  church  was  a  capital  crime.  Blasphemy  was 
punished  by  boring  the  tongue  with  a  redhot  bodkin  and  death.  One 
political  malcontent  was  thus  punished  and  chained  to  a  tree  to 
die.  Several  others  were  put  to  death  "by  hanging,  shooting,  breaking 
on  the  wheel  and  the  like."  Another  culprit,  for  defamation,  was 
condemned  to  have  his  tongue  bored  with  an  awl,  then  to  pass 
through  a  guard  of  forty  men  and  "be  butted  by  each  of  them, 
then  to  be  knocked  down  and  footed  out  of  the  fort."  In  Maryland, 
for  blasphemy  the  first  offence  was  punished  by  boring  the  tongue 
and  a  fine  of  twenty  pounds;  the  second  offence  by  branding  in  the 
forehead  with  a  letter  B  and  a  fine  of  forty  pounds,  and  the  third  offence 
by  death.  In  New  York  under  the  Dutch,  torture  was  a  recognized 
method  of  extracting  confessions  in  criminal  trials.  Lutherans  and 
Quakers  were  driven  from  the  province  by  fines  and  whipping.  Even 
under  English  rule  and  as  late  as  1707,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  for 
preaching  one  sermon  in  the  city  of  New  York,  was  imprisoned  and 
compelled  to  pay  the  costs  of  court  amounting  to  $300.  In  Massa- 
chusetts the  record  of  torture  and  cruelty,  notably  toward  Quakers 
and  witches,  makes  that  of  New  Haven  tame  and  insignificant.  Yet 
even  this  was  far  surpassed  in  atrocity  by  the  criminal  code  of 
England  long  after  Massachusetts  had  abandoned  her  fault,  and  repented 
of  it  in  dust  and  ashes.  New  Haven  Colony  can  well  afford  to  have  its 
laws  termed  "blue"  in  contrast  with  the  black  and  crimson  legislation 
of  its  contemporaries. 


VI. 
THE  GREEN  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  CAMPUS. 

The  founders  of  New  Haven  avowed  the  leading  purpose 
of  their  settlement  here  to  be,  "to  establish  a  state  whose 
design  was  religion."  In  connection  with  this  purpose, 
and  to  furnish  the  pillars  of  such  a  state,  they  contemplated 
a  liberally-educated  class  who  should  be  leaders  and  guides 
in  religious  and  secular  affairs.  And  in  order  to  provide 
such  a  class  they  planned,  as  their  records  repeatedly  express 
it,  "for  the  training  up  of  youth,  that,  through  the  blessing 
of  God,  they  might  be  fitted  for  publique  service  in  church 
and  commonweale." 

Accordingly,  when  the  settlers  left  Boston  in  1638,  taking 
with  them  a  pastor  and  a  soldier,  they  also  took,  as  equally 
essential,  a  high-grade  professional  schoolmaster.  Ezekiel 
Cheever,  who  accompanied  the  party,  was  then  in  his  24th 
year.  He  had  been  a  teacher  in  Boston,  and  throughout 
his  long  life  he  never  had  or  attempted  any  other  vocation. 
Almost  immediately  after  the  landing,  and  fully  a  year 
before  either  church  or  state  was  organized,  a  school  had 
been  set  up  in  Mr.  Cheever's  house.  The  house  stood  near 
the  southeast  corner  of  Church  and  Grove  streets,  almost 
within  the  shadow  of  Mr.  Newman's  barn,  where  church 
and  state  were  founded  in  June,  1639. 

The  First  School-house. 

There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  a  school-house  was 
built  for  Mr.  Cheever  within  two  or  three  years  after  1639, 
though  there  is  no  direct  evidence  of  it.  Michael  Wiggles- 
worth,  in  his  autobiography,  says  that  in  1639  he  was  a 
pupil  of  Mr.  Cheever,  "who,  at  that  time,  taught  school  in 
his  own  house."  He  also  states  that  in  1645  he  came  again 
under  Mr.  Cheever's  instruction,  but  does  not  mention 


182  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

the  place,  and  the  natural  inference  is  that  a  school-house 
had  been  in  the  meanwhile  erected.  The  inference  is  con- 
firmed by  other  circumstances.  Four  years  previous  to 
Michael's  second  pupilage,  that  is  to  say,  on  the  2$th  of 
December,  1641,  there  had  been  held  a  town  meeting,  at 
which  "it  was  ordered  that  a  free  school  shall  be  set  up  in 
this  towne,  and  our  pastour,  Mr.  Davenport,  together  with 
the  magistrates,  shall  consider  what  yearly  allowance  is 
meete  to  be  given  to  it  out  of  the  treasury  of  the  towne." 
Under  this  order  Mr.  Cheever  was  appointed  schoolmaster, 
and  £20  a  year  was  paid  to  him  until  August,  1644,  when 
the  salary  was  increased  to  £30.  It  is  probable  that  under 
this  vote  a  school-house  was  also  provided,  and  that  Mr. 
Cheever  was  installed  in  it  before  1645.  It  is  certain  that  in 
1651  the  town,  being  then  in  the  course  of  negotiations  for 
a  new  schoolmaster,  agreed  that  the  school-house  should  be 
repaired.  There  must,  therefore,  have  been  a  school-house 
in  existence  in  1651  which  was  old  enough  to  need  repairs. 
Mr.  Cheever  had  left  town  in  1649,  and  no  school  had  been 
kept  since  his  departure.  The  school-house  must,  there- 
fore, have  been  used  by  him  when  the  free  school  was  set 
up  in  1641  or  shortly  thereafter. 

The  question  where  the  first  school-house  stood  is  one 
upon  which  the  records  throw  no  direct  light,  and  with 
regard  to  which  various  surmises  have  been  advanced. 
From  a  comparison  of  several  different  sources  of  informa- 
tion I  have  no  doubt  that  it  stood  on  the  Green  near  Elm 
street  a  little  west  of  Temple.*  It  was  renovated  and 
enlarged  in  1660  and  was  in  use  thereafter  as  a  grammar 
and  English  school  until  1723,  when  a  new  school-house 
was  built  for  the  grammar  school  on  the  Green  near 
College  street.  From  this  time  till  1656  the  old  school- 
house  (doubtless  with  occasional  repairs)  was  occupied  for 
an  English  school  until  1656,  when  it  was  superseded  by  a 
new  brick  school-house  on  the  same  location.  This  con- 
tinued in  use  as  a  town  school  until  1815,  when  it  was  taken 

*See  Note  i  at  end  of  this  paper. 


AS    AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  183 

down.  The  grammar  school-house  of  1723  fell  into  dilapi- 
dation and  disuse  after  1790,  and  was  removed  as  a  nuisance 
sometime  before  1800. 


Early  School  Education. 

Having  thus  traced  the  history  of  the  several  school 
buildings  on  the  Green  so  far  as  our  materials  permit,  let  us 
next  follow  the  progress  and  vicissitudes  of  educational 
interests  within  their  walls. 

The  "free  school"  which  was  set  up  in  1641  by  vote  of 
the  town  was  not  intended  to  be  a  school  free  of  cost  to  the 
pupils.  It  was  simply  a  public  school,  controlled  and  partly 
supported  by  the  public  and  "free"  or  "open"  to  all  who 
chose  to  attend  and  pay  tuition  fees.  Neither  was  it  what 
we  understand  by  "a  common  school,"  viz.,  one  designed 
for  instruction  in  the  elementary  English  branches.  Ele- 
mentary instruction,  when  it  was  acquired  at  all,  was 
obtained  either  in  the  family  or  from  private  teachers;  and 
as  was  remarked  in  a  town  meeting  debate,  "it  was  scarce 
known  in  any  place  to  have  a  free  school  for  teaching 
English  and  writing."  The  law  of  1656  required  that 
parents  or  masters  should  provide  in  some  way  that  "their 
children  and  apprentices  should  be  taught  to  read  the 
Scriptures  and  other  good  and  profitable  books  in  the 
English  tongue,  being  their  native  language,  and  in  some 
competent  measure  to  understand  the  main  grounds  and 
principles  of  the  Christian  religion  necessary  to  salvation." 
It  also  required  the  public  officials  to  ascertain  any  negli- 
gence in  this  respect,  and  to  report  offenders  to  the  court.* 
Apparently  a  young  man  who  could  read  the  Bible  after 
a  fashion  and  answer  questions  in  theology  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  a  constable,  was  thought  sufficiently  educated  for  all 
the  ordinary  purposes  of  life.  If  in  addition  to  this  he  could 
write  enough  to  make  out  a  bill,  and  was  able  to  foot  it  up 
correctly,  his  educational  qualifications  were  regarded  with 

*  See  Note  2. 


184  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

great  respect.  In  1660,  at  the  prompting  of  Mr.  Davenport, 
the  town  extended  the  law  so  as  to  require  that  "all  boys 
should  be  learned  to  write  a  legible  hand  as  soon  as  they 
are  capable,"  but  it  saw  no  need  of  adopting  his  other 
recommendations  that  "they  should  also  be  taught  to  cast 
up  accounts  competently  and  should  make  some  entrance 
into  the  Latin  tongue." 

Dame  Schools  and  other  Schools. 

For  this  primary  or,  as  it  might  be  called,  common  school 
education  for  the  masses,  the  town  made  no  provision.  The 
law  of  1656,  already  quoted,  required  that  it  should  be 
imparted  to  children  by  parents  and  masters,  "either  by 
their  own  ability  and  labor  or  by  improving  such  school- 
master or  other  help  as  the  plantation  doth  afford  or  the 
family  conveniently  provide."  So  far  as  can  be  ascertained, 
the  reliance  for  such  instruction  was  upon  dame  schools, 
where  small  boys  and  girls  were  taught  their  letters  and 
"manners."  That  some  other  accomplishments  were 
occasionally  acquired  at  these  schools  appears  from  the 
record  of  the  trial  of  a  little  girl  before  the  magistrates' 
court  in  1651  for  "prophane  swearing."  The  language 
charged  was  the  fiendish  expressions  "By  my  soul,"  and 
"As  I  am  a  Christian,"  and  the  child's  mother,  by  way  of 
extenuation,  suggested  that  "she  had  learned  some  of  her 
ill-carriage  at  Goodwife  Wickham's,  where  she  went  to 
scoole."  The  frightened  little  culprit  denied  the  charge, 
which  only  made  matters  worse.  In  the  end  she  was  found 
guilty,  and  after  being  lectured  with  copious  and  lurid 
warnings  from  Scripture,  was  fined  ten  shillings  for  "pro- 
fanity" and  ordered  "to  be  whipped  according  to  her  years" 
for  telling  lies  to  the  court. 

To  boy  graduates  of  the  dame  schools  who  could  read 
in  the  Testament,  the  free  school  opened  its  doors  provided 
their  parents  were  willing  to  pay  the  tuition  fees  for  the 
higher  education  there  imparted.  What  the  extent  of  the 


AS   AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  185 

higher  education  was,  we  learn  from  the  records.  Teachers 
employed  for  the  school  were  required  "to  perfect  male 
children  in  ye  Englishe  after  they  can  read  in  their  Testa- 
ment or  Bible,  and  to  learn  them  to  wrighjt  and  to  bring 
them  on  to  Lattine  as  they  are  capable  and  desire  to  pro- 
ceed therein."  Arithmetic  was  not  embraced  in  this 
curriculum,  and  was  not  taught  in  the  grammar  school.  In 
1645,  "Mr.  Pearce,  a  private  teacher,  desired  the  plantation 
to  take  notice  that  if  any  will  send  their  children  to  him 
he  will  instruct  them  in  writing  and  arethmatick,"  but 
arithmetic  without  Latin  had  no  chance  in  competition 
writh  Latin  without  arithmetic,  and  nothing  is  heard  of  Mr. 
Pearce's  school  afterwards.  Thus  early  did  the  New  Haven 
educational  atmosphere  acquire  that  predominating  flavor 
of  the  dead  languages  which  has  ever  since  distinguished  it, 
and  thus  did  New  Haven  begin  its  high  school  system  by 
cramming  the  pupils  with  ornamental  studies,  and  neglect- 
ing to  train  them  in  those  which  are  of  practical  every-day 
use.  I  have  not  yet  ascertained  the  exact  date  when  that 
practice  was  discontinued. 

Ezekiel  Cheever. 

How  successful  Mr.  Cheever's  career  as  a  pedagogue 
was  in  New  Haven,  and  how  many  scholars  he  had,  we 
have  no  means  of  knowing.  Some  of  his  later  pupils  in 
Boston  have  left  reminiscences  concerning  him  from  which 
we  may  draw  inferences  respecting  his  methods  of  instruc- 
tion and  discipline  at  New  Haven.  According  to  these 
narrators,  the  boys  found  it  expedient  to  watch  the  school- 
master's cane  as  closely  as  their  text-books,  and  as  one 
witness  remarks,  "when  they  saw  him  begin  to  stroke  his 
pointed  beard  they  all  got  ready  to  stand  from  under." 
This  general  panic  in  the  school-room  probably  arose  from 
an  uncertainty  where  the  lightning  was  going  to  strike, 
for  the  same  witness  .declares  that  it  was  Mr.  Cheever's 
practice,  whenever  a  boy  made  a  bad  recitation,  to  flog 


186  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

another  boy  for  not  exercising  a  better  influence  over  the 
delinquent;  and  that  one  chronic  victim  of  these  vicarious 
inflictions,  in  order  to  escape  them,  was  compelled  to  thrash 
a  lazy  comrade  so  that  he  never  came  to  school  any  more. 
With  such  amiable  peculiarities  as  this,  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
Mr.  Cheever  was  not  idolized  by  the  schoolboys  of  New 
Haven,  and  for  some  reason  he  also  failed  to  ingratiate 
himself  with  the  older  part  of  the  community.  In  1647, 
he  was  called  before  the  church  to  answer  for  "his  con- 
tradictory, stiff  and  proud  frame  of  spirit,"  as  manifested 
in  sundry  offensive  carriages  toward  the  magistrates  and 
elders,  and  after  a  ridiculous  and  scandalous  proceeding 
called  a  church  trial  was  "cast  out  of  the  church  till  the 
proud  flesh  be  destroyed  and  he  be  brought  to  a  more 
reasonable  frame."  After  this  certificate  of  character  he 
hardly  felt  encouraged  to  continue  his  instruction  of  youth 
in  New  Haven,  and  accordingly  removed  to  Ipswich  and 
afterwards  to  Boston,  where  he  died  at  the  age  of  93,  having 
continued  to  teach  till  the  year  before  his  death. 

Whatever  doubt  may  exist  as  to  Mr.  Cheever's  personal 
success  as  an  instructor  in  New  Haven,  it  is  certain  that  he 
made  his  little  school-house  on  the  Green  the  point  from 
which  classical  education  in  New  England  derived  one  of 
its  principal  means  of  preservation  and  progress  for  more 
than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years.  This  vitalizing  agency 
was  the  manual  of  Latin  instruction  known  as  "Cheever's 
Accidence,  or  Introduction  to  the  Latin  tongue."  This 
book  was  compiled  by  him  while  in  New  Haven  and  was 
used  in  the  grammar  schools  of  New  England  through 
nineteen  editions,  the  last  of  which  was  issued  in  1838.  It 
was  the  first  school  book  in  the  classics  if  not  the  first  school 
book  of  any  kind  produced  in  this  country,  and  thus  upon 
New  Haven  Green,  before  the  virgin  forest  was  cleared 
from  its  surface,  began  that  splendid  record  of  American 
educational  literature  in  which  the  share  of  New  Haven 
from  first  to  last  has  not  been  surpassed  by  that  of  any 
rival. 


AS    AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  187 


The  Colony  Collegiate  School. 

The  departure  of  Mr.  Cheever  left  the  town  not  only 
without  a  public  school,  but  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained 
without  any  means  of  education  whatever.  It  was  not 
easy  to  find  a  schoolmaster  competent  to  take  Mr.  Cheever's 
place,  and  when  after  three  years  a  successor  was  obtained, 
so  many  children  came  to  him  to  be  taught  their  letters 
and  so  few  to  study  the  classics  that  he  became  discouraged 
and  continued  only  six  months  in  the  work.  The  same 
troubles  were  repeated  under  his  successors;  and  after 
several  years'  trial,  it  was  evident  that  as  a  nursery  for 
ministers  and  statesmen  the  town  school  was  a  failure.  In 
1660  Mr.  Bowers,  the  schoolmaster,  "desired  to  knowe  the 
towne's  mind,  whether  they  would  have  a  schoole  or  no 
schoole,  for  he  could  not  satisfie  himself  to  goe  on  thus." 
The  matter  was  referred  to  the  court,  elders  and  townsmen 
for  consideration,  and  after  a  few  months  it  was  decided 
to  abandon  the  school  as  a  town  institution,  and  to  re-estab- 
lish it  as  a  colony  grammar  school,  to  be  maintained  jointly 
by  all  the  towns  of  the  colony. 

This  step  was  not  entirely  determined  by  the  existing 
condition  of  the  school,  but  was  in  accordance  with  plans 
that  had  been  cherished  by  the  colony  from  its  inception. 
It  had  been  a  darling  purpose  of  the  founders  of  New 
Haven  to  establish  a  college  there  as  soon  as  their  means 
and  other  circumstances  would  permit.  It  was  with  this 
in  view  that  they  had  brought  Mr.  Cheever  with  them 
from  Boston,  and  had  set  up  a  classical  school  for  him  to 
the  neglect  of  all  other  public  instruction.  In  the  first 
layout  of  the  town  they  had  set  apart  a  tract  of  forty  acres 
below  Olive  street,  called  the  Oystershell  Fields,  "for  the 
town's  disposal"  with  a  view  to  its  application  to  this  object. 
In  1648  this  provision  was  enlarged  by  adding  three  acres 
on  Elm  street  fronting  the  market  place,  known  as  "the 
Mrs.  Eldred  lot,"  because  it  had  been  originally  reserved  for 


188  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

Mrs.  Eldred,  one  of  the  proprietors,  who  was  expected  to 
arrive,  but  who  never  came  to  America.  This  tract,  which 
afterwards  became  the  home  lot  of  Rev.  Mr.  Pierpont, 
extended  on  Elm  street  from  the  east  boundary  of  the 
present  Bristol  place  to  the  west  boundary  of  the  Foster 
place,  running-  back  to  Wall  street.  In  1652  and  again  in 
1655  the  plan  of  starting  the  college  as  a  colony  enterprise 
was  strongly  agitated  and  three  hundred  pounds  were  raised 
in  New  Haven  for  the  project,  but  the  other  towns  felt 
unprepared  to  assume  their  share  of  the  burden  and  the 
movement  fell  through. 


The  Hopkins  Bequest. 

In  1657  new  hope  was  infused  into  the  college  scheme  by 
a  bequest  from  Mr.  Edward  Hopkins,  a  son-in-law  of 
Governor  Eaton,  who  had  just  died  in  London.  By  this 
bequest  certain  property  in  Connecticut  Colony,  inventoried 
at  about  fourteen  hundred  pounds  "besides  a  negar,"  was 
devised  to  three  trustees,  Mr.  Davenport  of  New  Haven, 
Mr.  Goodwin  of  Hadley  and  Mr.  Cullick  of  Boston.  The 
inclusion  of  "a  negar"  in  the  inventory  of  property  is  per- 
haps the  earliest  evidence  that  African  servants  were  held 
as  chattels  at  that  time  in  Connecticut.*  By  the  terms  of 
the  will  the  bequest  was  to  be  used  at  the  discretion  of 
the  trustees  "for  the  breeding  up  of  hopeful  youths  in  New 
England,  both  at  grammar  school  and  college,  for  the  public 
service  of  the  country."  The  trustees  decided  to  use  the 
money  for  maintaining  grammar  schools  at  New  Haven  and 
Hadley,  with  an  allowance  to  Harvard  College.  In  1660 
Mr.  Davenport  brought  the  matter  to  the  attention  of  the 
town.  He  offered  to  apply  the  share  allotted  to  New 
Haven  in  aid  of  a  grammar  school  to  be  maintained  by  the 
colony  provided  the  town  and  colony  would  also  make 
provision  for  its  support  according  to  certain  conditions 
which,  he  specified.  Both  town  and  colony  accepted  the 

*  See  Note  3. 


AS    AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  189 

conditions,  the  town  agreeing  among  other  things  to  pro- 
vide a  school-house,  and  to  devote  the  Eldred  lot  and  the 
Oystershell  Fields  to  educational  uses,  while  the  colony 
agreed  to  make  an  annual  allowance  for  its  support. 
Everything  being  arranged,  Mr.  Peck  was  engaged  as 
schoolmaster  and  in  the  fall  of  1660  the  colony  grammar 
school  went  into  operation. 

It  now  looked  as  if  the  foundations  of  the  future  college 
were  actually  laid  and  the  course  of  study  prescribed  was 
made  correspondingly  ambitious.  Mr.  Peck  was  required 
"to  teach  ye  scholars  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew  and  fit  them 
for  ye  college"  (meaning  Harvard  for  the  time  being,)  and 
also  to  teach  them  "oratory,  and  to  write  so  far  as  was 
necessary  in  his  worke."  Again  we  notice  that  arithmetic 
is  not  mentioned.  In  fact  arithmetic  was  not  then  taught 
even  at  Harvard  until  the  third  or  senior  year;  and  only 
after  the  students  had  been  fully  prepared  for  it  by  the 
preliminary  absorption  of  logic,  physics,  syntax,  ethics, 
politics,  dialects,  prosody  and  Chaldee.  Another  prepara- 
tion for  college  was  also  overlooked  in  the  school  curri- 
culum but  was  supplied  by  the  enterprise  of  the  students 
who  secured  private  instruction.  In  August,  1661,  Goody 
Spinnage  was  called  before  the  court  for  allowing  "ye 
scollars  to  play  at  cards  at  her  house  on  Saturday  afternoons 
and  holidays."  The  thriving  class  in  this  optional  study 
was  quickly  broken  up  and  Professor  Spinnage  only  escaped 
punishment  by  a  humble  confession,  with  the  excuse  that 
"she  did  not  then  judge  it  to  be  a  sinne,  but  is  now  sorry 
that  she  gave  way  to  such  disorder." 

Sequestration  of  the  Hopkins  Fund  by  Connecticut. 

It  soon  appeared  that  the  Hopkins  executors,  in  arrang- 
ing for  the  distribution  of  the  fund  between  New  Haven, 
Hadley  and  Harvard,  had  reckoned  without  their  host. 
The  property  was  all  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Connecticut, 
a  cognomen  which  then  as  now  was  practically  synonymous 


190  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

with  Hartford,  and  that  thrifty  community  resolved  that 
New  Haven  should  not  enjoy  its  good  fortune  except  upon 
the  terms  of  giving  to  Hartford  at  least  an  equal  share. 
With  this  business-like  purpose  in  view,  no  sooner  was  the 
Hopkins  will  made  public  than  the  General  Assembly  of 
Connecticut  sequestered  the  whole  estate  into  its  own 
possession,  appointing  an  administrator  of  its  own,  for- 
bidding any  action  by  the  trustees  named  in  the  will, 
and  interposing  all  kinds  of  obstacles  to  the  settlement 
of  the  estate.  For  over  five  years  these  impediments 
were  continued.  All  collections  being  stopped,  many 
claims  were  lost,  and  other  wastes  occurred  until  the 
property  had  dwindled,  as  was  estimated,  nearly  one- 
quarter  in  amount.  By  that  time  the  trustees,  tired 
of  the  unequal  contest  and  fearing  the  loss  of  the  whole 
fund,  consented  to  devote  four  hundred  pounds  to  the 
establishment  of  a  grammar  school  at  Hartford,  provided 
the  authorities  would  agree  not  to  hinder  further  settlement 
of  the  estate;  whereupon  the  sequestration  was  immedi- 
ately removed.  The  estate  on  final  settlement  in  1665 
produced  about  £1,200;  of  which  £400  went  to  Hartford 
and  £400  to  New  Haven;  £300  went  to  Hadley,  £100  went 
to  Harvard  College,  and  "the  negar"  went  to  parts 
unknown. 

In  the  meantime  the  Colony  school,  the  incipient  college 
at  New  Haven  which  had  been  born  in  1660,  had  lived  and 
died,  and  had  long  been  buried.  In  the  expectation  of  the 
Hopkins  fund,  great  enthusiasm  had  been  awakened.  The 
colony  had  appropriated  liberally  for  the  school's  endow- 
ment and  support.  The  town  had  greatly  enlarged  and 
improved  the  school-house,  and  had  turned  it  over  as  an 
elegant  academic  hall  to  the  colony.  It  had  also  voted  a 
house  to  the  schoolmaster  with  an  allowance  of  £10  a  year 
toward  his  maintenance.  It  assigned  special  seats  of  honor 
in  the  meeting-house  "to  the  schollers,"  and  as  a  natural 
consequence  was  soon  after  obliged  to  appoint  Edwin 
Baker  to  keep  them  in  order  during  divine  service;  and  as 


AS   AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  191 

an  extraordinary  indulgence  the  hour  of  opening  school  was 
changed  during  the  winter  season  from  seven  o'clock  in  the 
morning  to  eight.  Strange  to  say,  notwithstanding  all 
these  allurements  the  candidates  for  honors  in  "Latin, 
Greek,  Hebrew,  oratory,  and  as  much  writing  as  the  work 
required,"  were  few  in  number  and  fell  off  rapidly.  In  a 
few  months,  Mr.  Davenport  complained  that  only  five  or 
six  children  came  from  the  town,  and  that  the  pupils  were 
very  inconstant  in  their  attendance.  In  1662  the  colony, 
tired  of  the  experiment,  voted  to  discontinue  its  support. 

The  college  being  thus  indefinitely  postponed,  and  the 
town  left  to  shift  for  itself,  the  latter  concluded  to  mitigate 
its  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  learned  languages,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  engaged  George  Pardee  as  schoolmaster  "to  teach 
English  and  writing  and  to  carry  the  scholars  in  Latin  as 
far  as  he  could,"  which  Mr.  Pardee  frankly  told  them  was  a 
very  short  distance  indeed.  Some  visionary  crank  made  a 
remark  in  town  meeting  to  the  effect  "that  arithmatick 
was  very  necessary  in  these  parts,"  but  the  suggestion  met 
with  no  favor,  and  as  a  substitute  the  meeting  advised  that 
"the  youth  be  instruckted  in  point  of  manners,  there  being 
a  great  fault  in  that  respect  as  some  exprest." 

Of  course,  by  this  abandonment  of  a  grammar  school, 
New  Haven  relinquished  its  claims  on  the  Hopkins  fund, 
which  the  Hartford  authorities  still  held  in  their  clutches; 
but  in  1664,  Mr.  Davenport,  being  anxious  that  the  town 
should  not  give  up  finally  his  favorite  plan  of  a  collegiate 
school,  again  called  up  the  subject  in  town  meeting. 
Reminding  his  hearers  that  "we  are  in  a  very  low  way  for 
learning,"  he  besought  the  town  to  make  a  new  effort  to 
secure  permanently  the  benefit  of  the  Hopkins  fund,  by 
sending  for  a  new  schoolmaster  and  starting  the  grammar 
school  again.  Under  the  stimulus  of  this  appeal  the  town 
voted  £30  a  year  for  a  grammar  school  and  appointed  a 
committee,  but  apparently  went  no  farther.  New  Haven 
Colony  was  then  in  the  throes  of  dissolution  and  within 
the  next  two  years  passed  out  of  existence  by  absorption 
into  Connecticut. 


192  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 


The  Hopkins  Grammar  School  Founded. 

By  the  laws  of  Connecticut  every  town  was  required  to 
maintain  a  grammar  school,  and  in  1667  New  Haven,  being 
notified  of  this  obligation,  voted  a  grant  of  thirty  pounds 
a  year  to  support  such  a  school  and  engaged  Mr.  Street  as 
schoolmaster.  The  following  year  Mr.  Davenport,  being 
about  to  remove  to  Boston,  called  on  the  town  to  say 
whether  it  intended  to  carry  on  the  school  permanently  in 
such  a  way  as  to  secure  the  Hopkins  fund  or  not.  There- 
upon several  of  the  leading  citizens  expressed  their  purpose 
"of  bringing  up  their  sons  to  learning,"  and  Mr.  Street 
reported  "that  he  had  already  eight  in  lattin  and  expected 
several  more."  On  these  assurances  Mr.  Davenport  a  few 
weeks  later  executed  a  deed,  conveying  the  Hopkins  fund 
to  certain  local  trustees,  for  the  support  and  maintenance 
of  "the  grammar  school  or  college  already  founded  and 
begun  at  New  Haven."  The  deed  recited  the  fact  that  the 
school-house  and  schoolmaster's  house  belonging  to  the 
town  had  already  been  granted  and  confirmed  to  the  uses 
of  the  school  and  stipulated  that  these  and  also  the  Oyster- 
shell  fields  and  the  Eldred  lot  should  be  forever  held  for 
the  support  of  the  "Grammar  or  Collegiate  School."  Thus 
the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  was  finally  established  in 
New  Haven,  and  it  has  survived,  with  various  vicissitudes 
in  its  activity  and  prosperity,  to  this  day.  It  was  born  on 
the  Green  and  there  it  passed  the  first  century  and  a  half 
of  its  existence,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter. 

Mr.  Street  continued  to  instruct  the  grammar  school  till 
1673,  when  he  removed  to  Wallingford,  and  the  school 
was  closed  for  a  year,  apparently  for  lack  of  both  teacher 
and  scholars.  It  was  then  opened  with  George  Pardee 
again  in  charge,  who  was  still  a  man  of  Shakesperian  quali- 
ties, with  respect  to  knowing  "small  Latin  and  less  Greek." 
He  therefore  undertook  only  "to  teach  English  and  ye 
accidence  and  any  gramer  rules  as  far  as  he  could."  So 


AS   AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  193 

small  a  modicum  of  classics  was  not  satisfactory  to  the 
colonial  authorities,  and  in  1676  the  county  Marshal  noti- 
fied the  town  that  he  had  a  warrant  against  it  for  not  main- 
taining a  grammar  school  according  to  law.  Under  this 
pressure  the  town  voted  in  July,  1677,  that  "twenty  pounds 
per  annum  be  paid  from  the  town  treasury  for  the  incour- 
agement  and  maintenance  of  a  schoolmaster  who  shall  not 
only  teach  ye  languages,  but  also  perfect  ye  youth  in  reading 
English,  they  being  entered  in  ye  Primmer  and  to  teach 
them  to  write  a  legible  hand."  No  instructor  of  sufficient 
erudition  for  such  a  course  could  be  found  however,  and 
even  George  Pardee  seems  to  have  abandoned  the  field,  for 
in  1 68 1  we  find  there  was  renewed  complaint  that  "there  was 
no  schoolmaster"  and  a  debate  about  getting  one  "to  teach 
at  least  English  till  one  who  could  teach  ye  languages  could 
be  obtained,  that  the  youth  might  not  lose  their  time." 


Early  School  Books. 

The  foregoing  allusions  to  "the  accidence"  and  the 
"primmer"  as  school  books  are  interesting  as  allusions  to 
the  only  text-books  used  in  the  early  colonial  schools  of 
which  we  have  now  any  knowledge.  "The  Accidence" 
was  of  course  Mr.  Cheever's  little  book,  of  which  the  first 
edition  was  printed  in  London  in  1660,  and  the  nineteenth 
in  Boston  in  1838.  What  the  "Primmer"  was,  it  is  not  so 
easy  to  determine.  We  read  that  in  1645  Mrs.  Stolion, 
who  kept  a  dry  goods  and  "notion"  store,  was  complained  of 
before  the  court  for  charging  extortionate  prices,  and  among 
the  items  specified  it  was  said  that  "she  sold  Primmers  at 
9d,  which  cost  4d  here  in  New  England."  These  were 
doubtless  an  imported  book  containing  the  alphabet  and 
easy  spelling  and  reading  lessons,  much  like  the  famous  New 
England  Primer  which  appeared  at  some  unknown  date 
prior  to  1690.  Probably  the  primers  in  use  in  1674  were 
13 


194:  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

the  same  as  those  sold  by  Mrs.  Stolion  in  1645,  as  text- 
books were  not  then  supplied  to  schools  at  the  public 
expense  and  consequently  were  not  changed  every  year  or 
two  for  the  benefit  of  publishers.  As  the  standard  price  of 
these  primers  in  1645  was  only  four  pence,  it  is  not  likely 
that  the  horn  book,  which  must  have  been  much  inferior 
for  tuition  purposes,  was  ever  in  vogue  in  New  Haven. 


Revival  of  the  Grammar  School. 

After  1683  the  town  records  cease  to  throw  any  light  on 
the  progress  of  education  in  the  schools  of  New  Haven, 
but  the  grammar  school  records,  which  began  to  be  kept  in 
that  year,  partly  supply  the  deficiency.  From  these  it 
appears  that  boys  from  New  Haven  County  were  admitted 
free,  all  others  on  payment  of  ten  shillings.  The  pupils 
were  divided  into  "English  boyes"  and  "Lattine  boyes." 
The  English  boys  were  taught  "to  perfect  their  right  spell- 
ing and  reading  and  to  write  and  to  cypher  in  numeration 
and  addition  and  no  further."  The  studies  of  the  Latin 
boys  are  not  specified,  but  were  probably  such  as  were 
required  for  entering  Harvard  College,  viz.:  Latin  enough 
to  translate  Cicero,  and  to  speak  Latin  in  prose  and  verse; 
also  the  elements  of  Greek  grammar. 

The  records  of  the  County  Court  show  that  the  school 
received  £15  a  year  from  the  county,  and  the  court 
appointed  or  confirmed  the  schoolmaster.  Pupils  were 
admitted  as  soon  as  they  could  read.  The  hours  of  study 
were  in  the  morning  from  6  to  1 1  o'clock,  and  in  the  after- 
noon from  i  to  4  in  the  winter,  and  from  i  to  5  in  the  sum- 
mer. There  were  apparently  no  half-holidays,  for  the  rules 
required  the  boys  to  be  examined  Monday  mornings  on 
the  sermons,  and  Saturday  afternoons  in  the  Catechism. 
Even  as  late  as  1729  the  school  was  ordered  "kept  seven 
hours  a  day  in  the  winter  and  eight  in  summer,  and  not  to 
exceed  twelve  play  dayes  in  the  year."  How  it  was  pos- 


AS    AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  195 

sible  to  make  boys  work  so  much  in  order  to  learn  so  little 
is  a  problem  of  which  we  have  no  recorded  solution. 
Doubtless  the  unsuitable  character  of  the  text-books  and 
the  defective  methods  of  instruction  are  accountable  for 
most  of  the  profitless  drudgery. 

Under  these  inspiriting  regulations  the  little  boys  of  New 
Haven  pursued  their  studies  with  blithesome  hearts  in  the 
old  Colony  school-house  until  1723,  when  the  joint  arrange- 
ment between  the  grammar  school  and  the  town  school 
came  to  an  end  and  the  Latin  scholars  moved  into  new  and 
perhaps  more  commodious  quarters.  The  grammar  school 
was  thereafter  kept  in  the  new  school-house  near  College 
street,  next  the  jail  and  opposite  the  new  edifice  called  "Yale 
College,"  while  an  English  school  was  maintained  in  the 
old  building  by  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society  as  a  town 
school.  From  1718  to  1723  was  an  era  of  great  public  build- 
ing in  New  Haven.  In  that  period,  besides  the  new  one- 
story  school-house,  the  jail,  alongside  of  it,  was  enlarged  and 
raised  to  two  stories;  a  two-story  state  house  was  erected 
just  beyond,  near  Elm  street;  and  on  the  other  side  of 
College  street,  near -Chapel,  was  reared  the  stately  college 
building  of  wood,  four  stories  high  and  twenty-two  feet 
wide,  whose  grand  "architectonic"  effect  then  excited  no 
little  admiration. 

The  grammar  school  having  now  become  entirely  dis- 
sociated from  the  town  management,  there  only  remained 
to  turn  over  to  the  trustees  of  the  Hopkins  fund  such 
property  belonging  to  it  as  still  continued  in  the  possession 
of  the  town.  For  this  purpose  a  town  meeting  held  in  1728 
passed  a  vote  vesting  in  the  Hopkins  School  Committee 
full  power  over  the  Oystershell  Fields,  "to  be  improved  by 
them  for  the  upholding  of  a  grammar  school  in  the  First 
Parish  of  this  town  for  the  educating  of  children  of  Presby- 
terian parents  only,  and  no  other  use  whatsoever,  forever 
hereafter."  Episcopalianism  had  just  reared  its  hydra  head 
in  New  Haven,  and  this  vote  was  designed  as  timely  notice 
that  the  privileges  established  to  uphold  the  faith  delivered 


196  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN   GREEN. 

to  the  saints  were  not  to  be  perverted  for  the  benefit  of  dis- 
senters. The  slow  growth  of  the  new  denomination  made 
the  restriction  one  of  little  practical  consequence  for  many 
years,  and  after  that  period,  if  not  before,  it  was  always 
treated  as  a  dead  letter. 

From  this  time  onward,  the  progress  of  the  grammar 
school  appears  to  have  been  more  steady.  Teachers  were 
always  obtainable  from  graduates  of  the  college.  The 
college  afforded  a  stimulus  to  education  in  the  town,  and  as 
population  and  wealth  increased  scholars  were  not  lacking. 
By  the  year  1790  the  school-house  of  1723  near  the  jail  had 
fallen  into  dilapidation  and  the  grammar  school  records 
show  that  between  1790  and  1795  two  of  the  teachers 
obtained  permission  to  keep  the  school  in  their  own  houses. 
After  1797  the  trustees  hired  a  room  elsewhere  for  the  use 
of  the  school  until  1801,  when  they  built  a  new  school-house 
of  wood  on  the  corner  of  Crown  and  Church  streets,  the 
same  ground  now  occupied  by  the  Young  Men's  Republi- 
can Club.  The  old  school-house,  as  already  stated,  was 
demolished  sometime  after  1795. 


Other  Schools  on  the  Green. 

After  the  separation  of  the  grammar  and  English  schools 
in  1723,  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society,  which  was  to  all 
intents  and  purposes  the  town,  carried  on  the  English 
school  in  the  old  school-house,  doubtless  after  putting  it  in 
a  suitable  state  of  renovation  and  repair.  In  1755  the 
Society  erected  a  new  brick  school-house  on  the  same  site 
as  the  old  house,*  and  this  continued  in  use  until  after  the 
present  North  Church  was  erected,  or  until  about  1815. 
The  late  Mr.  Charles  Thompson  recollected  attending 
school  in  this  building  and  turning  out  with  the  other  boys 
one  bright  day  in  June,  1813,  to  see  the  funeral  cortege  pass 
by  which  was  bearing  the  dead  bodies  of  Lawrence  and  his 

*  See  Note  4. 


AS   AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  197 

brave  lieutenant,  Ludlow,  of  the  frigate  Chesapeake,  with 
military  escort,  on  their  way  to  New  York  for  burial. 

Since  the  departure  of  the  grammar  school  and  the  public 
school  from  the  Green,  several  private  schools  have  been 
kept  within  its  borders.  In  1822  Mr.  John  E.  Lovell  opened 
a  Lancasterian  school  in  the  basement  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  then  just  erected.  Mr.  Lovell  was  an  enthusiastic 
and  thorough  instructor,  and  is  remembered  by  his  pupils 
of  two  generations  with  esteem  and  gratitude  for  the  valu- 
able service  which  he  rendered  to  the  cause  of  education, 
the  influence  of  which  is  still  felt  in  New  Haven.  The 
peculiarities  of  the  Lancasterian  system  as  administered  by 
Mr.  Lovell  consisted  largely  in  utilizing  the  older  scholars 
for  imparting  knowledge,  and  the  occasional  use  of  rattan 
and  a  certain  "yellow  pony"  to  promote  attention  and 
quicken  the  memory.  Among  the  pleasing  associations 
connected  with  the  school  are  recollections  of  its  annual 
exhibition,  the  leading  feature  of  which  was  a  dramatic  per- 
formance by  the  boys,  rendered  with  the  daring  accessories 
of  costumes,  scenery,  drop-curtains  and  footlights.  Had 
this  entertainment  been  called  a  play  it  would  have  startled 
the  moral  sense  of  the  community,  but  under  the  title  of 
"an  exhibition"  it  was  viewed  with  delight  by  the  most 
rigid  of  audiences.  On  at  least  one  occasion  it  was  given 
with  all  its  theatrical  paraphernalia  within  the  walls  of  the 
sanctuary  itself.  The  school  was  removed  from  the  Green 
in  1827  to  a  large  new  building  erected  expressly  for  it, 
which  stood  on  the  lot  on  Orange  street  now  occupied 
by  the  High  School.  At  later  periods  two  other  private 
schools  were  kept  in  the  basement  of  the  Methodist  Church, 
one  by  Mr.  Lucius  Thomas  and  another  by  Mr.  Smith 
Dayton. 

Publication  Office  on  the  Green. 

If  the  newspaper  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  educational 
institution,  according  to  a  theory  entertained  by  some 
members  of  the  editorial  profession,  it  may  be  proper  to 


198  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

refer  to  one  such  guide,  philosopher  and  friend  which 
was  domiciled  for  several  years  on  the  Green.  This  was 
the  Connecticut  Journal  and  New  Haven  Post  Boy,  a  weekly 
paper  which  was  started  in  1767  by  Thomas  and  Samuel 
Green,  and  was  edited  and  published  in  the  Old  State 
House  which  stood  near  the  corner  of  Elm  and  College 
streets  on  the  site  of  its  successor,  the  Methodist  Church. 
The  printing  office  was  in  "the  old  council  chamber,"  and 
here  were  printed  and  sold » not  only  the  newspaper  itself 
but  also  many  sermons  and  other  religious  pamphlets, 
and  occasionally  almanacs,  which  besides  other  practical 
information  sometimes  contained  essays  on  astrology,  con- 
jugation and  witchcraft.  In  1769  The  Connecticut  Colony 
Law  Book  was  published  at  this  office,  containing  all  the 
laws  in  force  in  the  colony.  This  printing  office  remained 
on  the  Green  until  June,  1772,  when  it  was  removed  to  the 
corner  of  College  and  Chapel  streets,  "over  the  store  of 
Mr.  Lockwood,  and  opposite  Mr.  Beers'  tavern."  What- 
ever merits  as  a  public  educator  the  Connecticut  Journal  and 
Post  Boy  may  have  had  in  other  respects,  it  was  sadly  defec- 
tive in  its  department  of  local  news,  and  especially  so  with 
regard  to  reports  of  social  scandals,  family  quarrels,  brutal 
prize  fights,  bloody  murders,  and  other  cheerful  and  edify- 
ing occurrences  which  form  such  a  prominent  and  instruc- 
tive feature  in  the  columns  of  its  modern  successors. 


Town  Library  on  the  Green. 

From  the  public  press  to  the  public  library  is  a  short 
transition,  but  in  this  case  it  takes  us  back  to  the  earliest 
period  of  New  Haven  Colony.  The  first  reference  in  the 
records  to  a  town  library  is  under  date  of  March,  1652, 
when  "Jerdice  Boyce  and  William  Russell  were  desired  to 
make  some  seats  in  the  school-house  and  a  chest  to  put 
the  books  in."  Possibly  the  books  here  referred  to  were 
school  books,  but  if  so  volumes  of  a  miscellaneous  charac- 


AS    AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  199 

ter  belonging  to  the  town  were  soon  added.  In  1656 
Governor  Eaton  delivered  to  Mr.  Davenport  "certain  books 
lately  belonging  to  his  brother,  Samuel  Eaton,  intended 
for  the  use  of  a  college  and  appraised  at  about  twenty 
pounds."  A  catalogue  of  these  made  by  Mr.  Davenport 
in  1658  is  copied  into  the  records  of  the  townsmen  (or 
selectmen)  and  shows  a  collection  of  one  hundred  volumes, 
mostly  in  Latin,  including  Calvin's  Institutes,  and  many 
other  entertaining  theological,  controversial  and  literary 
works.  In  1658  "Mr.  Gibbard  acquainted  the  town  that  a 
friend  of  his  in  England  had  sent  a  parcel  of  books  as  a 
gift  to  the  town  and  desired  to  know  how  the  town  would 
have  them  disposed  of.  It  was  declared  that  seeing  they 
are,  most  of  them,  Latin  school  books,  they  left  it  to  him 
and  the  schoolmaster  and  such  others  as  they  should  take 
in  to  advise  with."  Probably  the  Eaton  and  Gibbard  dona- 
tions were  both  stored  away  in  the  school-house  chest.  In 
1659  the  General  Court  of  the  colony,  in  connection  with 
its  adoption  of  the  collegiate  or  grammar  school,  appro- 
priated eight  pounds  "for  the  procuring  of  books  from 
Rev.  Mr.  Blinnman."  By  this  time  the  library  had  out- 
grown the  school-house  chest,  and  in  the  following  year 
Mr.  Davenport,  as  one  condition  of  giving  a  part  of  the 
Hopkins  fund  to  the  collegiate  school,  required  that  the 
colony  should  contribute  toward  building  a  school-house 
and  library.  In  compliance  with  this  request,  when  the 
school-house  was  enlarged  by  the  town  in  1661,  a  room  in 
it  was  provided  "with  shelves  to  lay  books  on;"  and  when 
the  volumes  were  arranged  on  these  shelves  they  looked  so 
attractive  that  Mr.  Peck,  the  new  schoolmaster,  requested 
the  privilege  of  reading  them,  which  privilege  was  graci- 
ously granted,  "provided  a  list  of  them  be  taken."  Whether 
Mr.  Peck  ever  availed  himself  of  this  permission  to  revel 
in  the  fields  of  fancy  and  humor  thus  laid  open  to  him  is 
unknown,  but  it  is  believed  that  he  is  the  only  person  who 
ever  felt  tempted  to  do  so.  The  shelf  accommodations  in 
the  school-house  seem  to  have  been  insufficient,  for  in  1661 


200  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

Mr.  Davenport  referred  to  the  fact  that  "there  are  now 
many  books  belonging  to  the  town,"  and  renewed  his 
suggestion  that  "a  library  be  built;"  and  in  October,  1670, 
the  townsmen  "desired  bro.  Glover  and  bro.  Winston  to 
get  a  convenient  place  maid  in  the  scool-hous  to  keep  the 
town  books  in."  Nothing  more  is  heard  of  the  town  books 
until  February,  1689,  when  by  a  vote  of  the  townsmen, 
afterwards  ratified  by  the  town,  they  were  all  sold  to  Mr. 
Pierpont  for  forty  pounds  of  rye  and  thirty-two  bushels  of 
Indian  corn,  equivalent,  as  appears  by  the  town  treasurer's 
account,  to  twelve  pounds,  eighteen  shillings.  As  Mr. 
Pierpont  must  have  known  that  some  of  these  books  had 
been  originally  intended  to  form  a  part  of  a  college  founda- 
tion, it  is  not  unlikely  that  he  may  have  used  them  for  that 
purpose  at  Branford  in  1700,  when  the  ministers  there 
assembled  (if  they  ever  did  so  assemble)  and  severally 
presented  their  gifts  of  books  "for  the  founding  of  a  college 
in  this  colony." 

Association  of  the  Green  -with  Yak  College. 

This  allusion  to  the  founding  of  Yale  College  opens  up 
a  most  interesting  and  important  branch  of  our  subject, 
viz.,  the  association  of  the  Green  with  the  rise  and  progress 
of  that  institution.  The  preliminary  and  abortive  efforts  of 
the  colony  to  create  a  college  through  the  establishment 
and  development  of  a  grammar  school  have  already  been 
recounted.  After  the  collapse  of  these  plans  in  1660  the 
project  of  a  college  remained  in  abeyance  until  the  tradi- 
tional and  perhaps  mythical  meeting  of  the  ministers  in 
Branford,  just  referred  to.  In  the  meantime  New  Haven 
sent  its  boys  to  Harvard  and  extended  generous  aid  to  that 
institution,  which  was  maintaining  a  precarious  existence 
amid  many  discouragements.  As  early  as  1644  this  aid 
began,  through  the  passage  of  the  following  vote  by  the 
General  Court:  "The  proposition  for  the  relief  of  poore 
schollars  at  the  Coledg  at  Cambridg  was  fully  approved  off, 


AS    AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  201 

and  thereupon  it  was  ordered  that  Joshua  Attwater  and 
William  Davis  shall  receive  of  every  one  in  this  plantation 
whose  hart  is  willing  to  contribute  thereunto  a  peck  of 
wheat,  or  the  vallue  of  itt."  Thus  was  originated  the 
annual  contributions  of  "college  corn"  for  the  aid  of  Har- 
vard College,  which  continued  for  over  thirty  years.  By 
the  end  of  the  century,  however,  the  town  had  become 
tired  of  supporting  "poore  scollars"  at  Cambridge,  and  felt 
strong  enough  to  set  up  a  rival  institution,  from  which 
better  results  might  be  looked  for.  All  arrangements  hav- 
ing been  completed  by  Mr.  Pierpont  and  his  associates, 
the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut  at  the  first  session 
which  it  held  in  New  Haven,  October,  1701,  granted  the 
charter.  The  meeting-house  was  the  place  of  the  Assem- 
bly's gathering,  and  so  at  last  the  college  which  New 
Haven  had  so  long  hoped  and  striven  for  was  born,  and 
born  on  New  Haven  Green.  The  infant  was  not  allowed 
to  be  cradled,  however,  in  its  parental  home.  Owing 
to  the  jealousy  of  certain  towns  on  the  Connecticut 
river,  which  need  not  be  named,  the  trustees  deemed  it 
prudent  to  settle  the  college  at  Saybrook,  "as  the  most 
convenient  place  for  the  present,"  reserving  the  right 
to  alter  their  minds  upon  further  consideration. 


The  College  Controversy  with  Hartford. 

For  more  than  fifteen  years  the  college  languished,  hav- 
ing its  location  nominally  at  Saybrook,  but  with  its  dozen 
students  scattered  about,  wherever  they  could  find  instruc- 
tion. By  1716  it  had  become  evident  that  its  removal  to  a 
larger  place  was  essential  to  preserve  its  existence.  The 
town  of  New  Haven,  with  natural  affection  for  its  offspring, 
subscribed  liberally  for  its  establishment  here,  and  voted 
to  give  it  two  valuable  lots  on  opposite  corners  of  Chapel 
and  College  streets  for  its  location.  Early  in  the  same 
year  the  trustees  decided  to  bring  the  college  to  New 


202  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

Haven;  the  students  were  summoned  hither  and  instruc- 
tion here  was  commenced.  At  once  a  violent  opposition 
to  the  change  sprang  up  in  the  colony,  led  by  the  town  of 
Hartford.  That  thrifty  community,  calling  to  mind  its  suc- 
cess of  fifty  years  previous  in  looting  the  Hopkins  Gram- 
mar School  fund,  now  put  forth  strenuous  and  persistent 
efforts  to  kidnap  New  Haven's  most  precious  child,  the 
college,  with  an  alternative  eye  to  some  equivalent  as 
ransom.  In  pursuance  of  this  plan  it  influenced  several 
students  and  their  tutors,  who  were  gathered  at  Wethers- 
field,  not  only  to  refuse  to  remove  to  New  Haven,  but 
to  proclaim  themselves  to  be  the  original  college.  It  also 
petitioned  the  General  Assembly  to  order  the  college  to  be 
settled  at  Hartford,  and  pressed  this  petition  vigorously 
through  that  and  the  following  years.  It  succeeded  in 
obtaining  several  favorable  votes  in  the  lower  house,  but 
these  were  regularly  disagreed  to  by  the  other  branch  of 
the  Assembly,  which,  with  the  governor,  stood  firm  in 
support  of  New  Haven. 

While  this  petition  was  pending,  the  first  Commence- 
ment in  New  Haven  was  held  in  September,  1717,  with  a 
graduating  class  of  five;  the  exercises  were  private,  as  the 
college  had  as  yet  no  name  and  no  college  building.  In 
view,  however,  of  the  Hartford  petition  the  trustees  began 
at  once  the  erection  of  a  stately  college  hall,  and  pushed  it 
to  completion  as  rapidly  as  possible.  Meantime  the 
struggle  went  on  in  the  General  Assembly  without  decisive 
result.  Hartford  still  continued  to  recognize  the  Wethers- 
field  pretender  as  the  original  and  genuine  Jacob,  and 
encouraged  it  to  hold  a  commencement  at  which  degrees 
were  conferred. 


The  Splendid  Commencement  of  1718. 

By  this  time  the  College  Hall  at  New  Haven  was  com- 
pleted and  the  trustees  resolved  to  hold  a  commencement 
of  such  an  imposing  character  as  to  blight  forever  the 


AS   AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  203 

prospects  of  the  Wethersfield  imposition.  Accordingly  as 
many  dignitaries  of  church  and  state  throughout  the  colony 
as  could  be  brought  together,  were  assembled  at  New 
Haven  in  September,  1718,  to  grace  the  occasion.  Gov- 
ernor Saltonstall  headed  the  array,  and  Governor  Yale,  who 
had  just  sent  additional  gifts  to  the  college,  was  repre- 
sented by  a  proxy.  In  the  morning  the  trustees  met  in  the 
new  building  and  solemnly  named  it  Yale  College,  with 
many  thanks  to  God  and  Governor  Yale.  A  procession 
was  then  formed,  which  marched  to  the  meeting-house  on 
the  Green,  and  there  the  literary  exercises  were  held.  There 
were  orations  and  disputations  in  Latin.  Eight  students 
were  graduated,  and  Governor  Saltonstall  wound  up  the 
program  with  an  eloquent  and  highly  edifying  Latin 
oration.  A  sumptuous  banquet  followed  in  the  College 
Hall,  the  ladies  who  had  prepared  it  being  generously 
allowed  a  side  table  by  themselves  in  an  adjoining  room, 
and  at  the  close  all  sang  together  the  first  four  stanzas  of 
the  65th  Psalm,  beginning  as  follows: 

Thy  praise  alone,  O  Lord,  doth  reign 

In  Sion,  thine  own  hill: 
Their  vows  to  thee  they  do  maintain 

And  evermore  fulfil. 

This  melodious  eulogy  of  New  Haven  as  the  genuine  and 
only  Zion  brimming  over  with  honesty  and  pious  devotion, 
called  the  divine  attention  very  strongly  to  its  contrast  in 
these  respects  with  the  Wethersfield  Samaria  and  was 
regarded  as  quite  an  effective  hit  at  that  bogus  concern. 
The  whole  affair  passed  off  with  great  satisfaction  and  suc- 
cess. Says  Rev.  Samuel  Johnson,  who  was  present, 
"Everything  was  managed  with  such  order  and  splendor 
that  the  fame  of  it  extremely  disheartened  the  opposition 
and  made  opposition  fall  before  it." 

In  fact  this  imposing  demonstration  practically  decided 
the  contest  before  the  Legislature.  Hartford  indeed 
appeared  in  the  ring  a  month  later  at  the  October  session, 


204  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

but  the  "splendid  commencement"  and  the  "architectonic" 
College  Hall,  which  loomed  up  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Green,  were  two  knock-out  blows  in  her  solar  plexus,  and 
perceiving  that  she  had  lost  the  fight  she  handsomely 
expressed  herself  willing  to  be  soothed  by  an  equal  division 
of  the  prize.  This  liberal  offer  was  promptly  accepted,  and 
it  only  remained  to  settle  the  terms.  These  were  arranged 
by  the  passage  of  a  compromise  act  at  the  same  session  of 
the  General  Assembly,  whereby  the  college  was  fixed  at 
New  Haven,  and  a  brand  new  State  and  Court  House  was 
ordered  erected  at  Hartford  at  the  expense  of  the  colony. 
By  this  equitable  arrangement,  arrived  at  on  New  Haven 
Green,  the  first  great  crisis  in  the  history  of  the  college  was 
relieved.  The  Wethersfield  establishment,  whose  students 
were  described  as  "a  vicious  and  turbulent  set  of  fellows," 
made  much  additional  trouble  before  it  was  suppressed. 
Without  the  active  aid  of  Hartford,  however,  it  finally  dis- 
appeared, and  has  been  appropriately  succeeded  in  modern 
times  by  an  institution  with  inmates  of  similar  proclivities, 
which  adorns  that  pleasant  suburb  of  our  sister  city. 


Students  attend  Church  on  the  Green. 

After  1718  the  Green  had  little  association  with  the 
history  of  the  college  for  many  years,  except  through  its 
use  by  the  students  as  a  play-ground  and  as  a  place  where 
they  assembled  weekly  for  public  worship  and  annually  for 
the  Commencement  exercises.  Until  1753  the  students 
attended  Sunday  services  at  the  meeting-house.  Seats 
were  assigned  them  in  the  galleries,  the  college  authorities 
paying  thirty  pounds  per  annum  with  the  onerous  agree- 
ment to  keep  the  seats  and  adjacent  windows  in  repair. 
Nothing  was  said  about  stairways,  and  it  became  necessary 
in  1728  to  provide  for  the  preservation  of  these  by  calling 
on  the  constables  and  grand  jurors  to  prevent  disorders  by 
the  students  in  their  use.  In  1753,  as  one  result  of  the  Old 


AS   AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  205 

and  New-light  controversy,  the  students  were  withdrawn 
to  college  grounds  for  religious  exercises,  and  since  then 
have  always  worshipped  in  quarters  of  their  own.  Presi- 
dent Clap,  who  at  first  sided  with  the  Old-lights,  was  a 
strong  partizan,  and  procured  a  rule  of  the  college  for- 
bidding the  students  to  attend  on  New-light  preaching.  It 
was  for  violating  this  order  that  the  eminent  David 
Brainard  was  expelled  from  college;  and  at  about  the  same 
time  two  other  students  were  expelled  for  attending  New- 
light  services  with  their  parents  while  at  home  on  a  vaca- 
tion. Evidently  the  proclivity  of  students  to  go  to  places 
which  are  forbidden  is  not  of  modern  origin,  and  suggests 
that  if  compulsory  chapel  is  ever  abolished  it  would  be  well 
to  go  one  step  farther  and  make  attendance  on  Sunday 
service  a  penal  offence. 


President  Clap's  Defence  of  College  Charter. 

Notwithstanding  President  Clap's  affiliations  with  the 
Old-light  party,  his  withdrawal  of  the  students  from  public 
worship  on  the  Green  was  very  offensive  to  the  Old-lights 
and  in  time  caused  an  open  rupture  of  their  friendly  rela- 
tions. A  new  charter  had  been  granted  the  college  by  the 
Legislature  in  1745  which  reposed  the  entire  management  of 
the  institution  in  the  hands  of  its  trustees.  Nevertheless 
in  1763  the  Old-light  leaders  appealed  to  the  Legislature 
then  assembled  at  New  Haven  to  interfere  with  the  govern- 
ment of  the  college,  alleging  maladministration  of  its  affairs 
and  great  disorders  among  the  students.  The  attack  was 
supported  by  a  powerful  influence  in  the  state,  and  was 
led  by  some  of  its  ablest  lawyers,  and  President  Clap 
resisted  it  with  great  vigor,  learning  and  ability.  He 
took  the  ground  that  the  Legislature  had  no  power 
to  abrogate  the  vested  rights  of  the  corporation,  and  thus, 
as  Chancellor  Kent  remarks,  anticipated  the  celebrated 
argument  of  Mr.  Webster  in  the  Dartmouth  College  case 


206  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

made  more  than  half  a  century  later.  The  contest  was  an 
arduous  one,  but  the  result  was  the  same  in  the  General 
Assembly  as  it  was  afterwards  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  At  the  October  session  held  at  New  Haven, 
the  Legislature  refused  to  interfere,  and  thus  the  second 
great  crisis  in  the  history  of  Yale  College  was  met  and 
successfully  passed  on  New  Haven  Green. 

Although  this  attempt  to  invade  the  college  charter  had 
failed,  and  was  not  renewed,  yet  there  remained  behind  for 
many  years  a  feeling  of  jealousy  and  ill  will  on  the  part  of 
the  colony  toward  the  college,  and  in  1791  President 
Stiles  recognized  the  expediency  of  admitting  the  State 
authorities  to  a  share  in  its  administration.  Accord- 
ingly in  that  year,  by  consent  of  the  corporation,  an  act  was 
passed  by  the  Legislature  whereby  the  governor,  the 
lieutenant-governor  and  six  of  the  council  were  added  to  it 
as  associate  members.  This  arrangement  continued  undis- 
turbed till  1871,  when  a  demand  for  alumni  representation 
brought  about  the  present  system,  by  which  the  six  state 
senators  have  given  way  to  an  equal  number  of  alumni 
elected  by  the  graduates. 

Between  1791  and  1862  there  was  no  important  legisla- 
tion affecting  the  interests  of  the  college,  and  I  will  now 
advert  to  those  associations  of  the  college  with  the  Green 
that  grow  out  of  Commencement  celebrations  and  other 
incidental  connections. 


College  Commencements  on  the  Green. 

The  "splendid  commencement  of  1718,"  which  has  been 
described,  was  the  first  public  commencement  of  the  college. 
There  was  a  public  commencement  in  September  of  every 
year  thereafter  until  1746,  when  "on  account  of  the  great 
charge  and  expense  and  other  inconveniences  of  public 
commencements/'  the  occasion  was  private.  The  next 
year  the  public  exercises  were  revived  but  were  again  sus- 


AS    AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  207" 

pended  in  1758,  "on  account  of  the  present  calamitous  and 
distressing  war."  In  1759  and  1760  they  were  public,  but 
from  1761  to  1765  they  were  again  suspended  "by  reason 
of  the  gross  disorders  which  have  become  common  on  such 
occasions."  From  1774  to  1781,  the  college  being  much 
depressed,  and  the  students  scattered  most  of  the  time, 
there  were  no  public  commencements.  In  the  last  named 
year  they  were  resumed  with  special  eclat.  The  commence- 
ment of  that  year  was  the  first  public  commencement  under 
President  Stiles,  and  he  has  left  a  full  account  of  it  in  his 
diary.  The  exercises  were  held  as  usual  in  the  Brick 
Meeting-house  on  the  Green.  The  procession  was  headed 
by  the  students;  then  followed  the  president,  preceded  by 
the  beadle,  and  after  these  the  reverend  fellows,  the  two 
professors,  "the  tutors,  ministers  and  other  respectable 
persons."  At  the  meeting-house  there  were  disputations 
in  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew  and  even  in  English.  There  was 
also  an  anthem  by  the  choir  and  a  poem  was  delivered  by 
Joel  Barlow.  Since  that  period  there  has  been  no  break 
in  the  regular  sequence  of  college  commencements.  All 
of  them,  from  1718  to  1894,  have  been  held  on  the  Green, 
and  all  of  these,  except  two,  in  the  meeting-house  of  the 
First  Ecclesiastical  Society.  In  1813  and  in  1814,  while 
the  present  Center  and  North  Churches  were  being  erected, 
the  commencement  exercises  were  held  in  the  Blue  Meet- 
ing-house, on  the  corner  of  Elm  and  Church  streets. 

The  different  changes  in  the  time  for  holding  commence- 
ments may  here  be  noted.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
college  till  1832,  commencement  day  was  on  the  second 
Wednesday  of  September.  In  that  year  it  was  changed  to 
the  third  Wednesday  of  August.  From  1842  till  1851  it 
was  held  on  the  third  Thursday  of  August.  In  1851  it  was 
changed  to  the  last  Thursday  in  July.  In  1867  it  was  again 
changed  to  the  last  Thursday  but  one  in  July.  In  1871  it 
took  another  move  to  the  last  Thursday  but  two  in  July; 
in  1873  it  was  moved  again  to  the  Thursday  after  the  last 
Wednesday  in  June,  and  in  1881  it  was  changed  to  the  last 


208  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

Wednesday  in  June,  where  it  still  remains.  Having  now 
become  the  recognized  end  instead  of  the  beginning  of  the 
academic  year,  and  having  taken  on  *a  much  wider  charac- 
ter than  that  of  an  undergraduate  festival,  it  would  seem 
proper  to  drop  its  misleading  name,  "commencement,"  and 
to  call  it  "University  Day"  or  by  some  other  appropriate 
title. 

Colonial  Commencement  Festivities. 

So  far  as  known,  the  earlier  commencement  celebrations 
were  of  a  scholastic  and  decorous  character,  but  after 
several  years  the  students  began  to  introduce  various  pre- 
liminary exercises  not  on  the  official  program,  with  a  view 
to  do  greater  honor  to  so  important  an  anniversary. 
Among  these  was  a  custom  of  the  freshmen,  which  began 
about  1731,  to  break  the  stillness  of  the  preceding  night 
by  firing  off  the  town  cannon,  which,  according  to  ancient 
usage,  stood  on  the  Green,  as  shown  in  Wadsworth's  map 
of  1748.  The  upper  classes  prepared  for  the  occasion  by 
bibulous  festivities  hardly  less  disturbing  to  the  public 
peace.  As  early  as  1737  the  corporation  voted  as  follows: 
"It  having  been  observed  that  on  ye  commencement  occa- 
sions there  is  great  expense  in  spirituous  distilled  liquors 
in  ye  college  which  is  justly  offensive,  for  ye  prevention 
thereof  for  ye  future,  no  candidate  for  a  degree  nor  any 
undergraduate  shall  provide  or  allow  any  brandy,  rum  or 
other  spirituous  distilled  liquors  to  be  drunk  in  his  chamber 
during  ye  week  of  commencement."  In  1746  it  was  farther 
voted  that  there  should  be  "no  kind  of  treat  or  entertain- 
ment made  by  or  to  the  scholars,  but  only  at  the  commence- 
ment, the  quarter  days,  and  the  day  on  which  the  valedic- 
tory oration  is  pronounced  [afterwards  called  "Presentation 
day],  and  on  that  day  the  seniors  may  provide  and  give 
away  a  barrel  of  metheglin  and  no  more."  In  1755  the 
cannon  on  the  Green  were  still  rousing  people  from  their 
slumbers,  and  it  was  ordered,  "that  if  any  freshman  shall 


AS    AN    EDUCATIONAL    CAMPUS.  209 

take  part  in  firing  the  great  guns  at  commencement  his 
freshmanship  shall  be  continued  a  quarter  of  a  year  longer, 
and  during  that  time  he  shall  be  obliged  to  go  on  errands, 
and  not  have  liberty  to  send  any  freshman  on  errands,  nor 
to  wear  a  gown."  There  was  an  order  against  "the  firing 
of  squibs  and  crackers  and  other  great  disorders  which  have 
sometimes  attended  the  elumination  of  the  college  on  the 
night  before  commencement  and  also  the  ringing  of  bells 
contrary  to  law."  In  1760  the  corporation  again  found  it 
necessary  to  pass  a  special  code  of  rules  to  suppress  "the 
vices  and  disorders  attending  commencement,  to  the  great 
dishonor  of  the  college,  all  which  is  occasioned  by  giving 
away  of  great  quantities  of  strong  drink."  This  code  for- 
bade "the  purchasing  of  a  pipe  of  wine  by  the  candidates 
for  a  degree"  and  limited  the  quantity  to  "so  much  as  the 
president  should  think  proper."  The  president  thought 
two  gallons  of  wine  for  each  candidate  would  be  about  the 
right  quantity  to  enable  him  to  make  a  creditable  appear- 
ance the  next  day,  but  the  class  felt  that  with  a  tonic  so 
meager  in  quantity  and  mild  in  quality  they  could  not  do 
themselves  justice,  and  in  that  year  twenty-six  out  of  the 
graduating  class  of  twenty-eight  were  denied  a  degree  "for 
having  each  brought  two  gallons  of  rum  into  the  college 
building  without  permission."  This  summary  action  had 
a  sobering  effect,  and  we  are  told  that  "all  the  culprits 
before  mentioned  offered  a  full  confession  of  their  crimes, 
which  being  publickly  read  in  the  meeting-house,  was 
accepted,  and  through  favor  of  the  president  and  fellows 
they  were  admitted  to  a  degree."  On  account  of  these 
"disorders,"  there  was  no  public  commencement  the  fol- 
lowing year,  but  strange  to  say,  the  boisterous  demonstra- 
tions on  the  Green  and  around  the  college  were  more 
tumultuous  than  ever.  President  Clap  assured  the  public 
through  the  newspapers  that  the  rioters  were  not  students 
but  "townspeople  dressed  in  scholars'  gowns  to  bring 
scandal  on  the  college;"  but  notwithstanding  this  plausible 
14 


210  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN   GREEN. 

explanation,  public  commencements  were  not  resumed  till 
three  years  later.  After  this  period,  no  conspicuous  dis- 
orders appear  to  have  attended  the  commencement  season, 
but  for  many  years  commencements  were  said  to  resemble 
a  training  day  more  than  a  literary  festival.  "Elumina- 
tions"  and  fireworks  the  evening  previous  were  in  vogue 
till  1810  or  later. 


Literary  Exercises  at  Early  Commencements. 

The  exercises  within  the  meeting-house  on  commence- 
ment day  in  pre-revolutionary  times  were  as  follows: 

In  the  forenoon  there  was  first  a  prayer  by  the  president. 
Then  came  a  salutatory  oration  in  Latin,  by  one  of  the  grad- 
uating class.  Aftenvards  "syllogistic  disputes,"  also  in 
Latin,  by  two  contestants,  on  different  subjects  connected 
with  logic,  rhetoric,  ethics,  mathematics,  physics  and  meta- 
physics. In  the  afternoon  similar  disputations  followed  by 
the  conferring  of  degrees  by  the  president;  and  lastly  the 
valedictory  oration  and  a  concluding  prayer.  In  conduct- 
ing the  "syllogistic  disputes,"  the  disputants  stood  opposite 
each  other  in  the  side  galleries  of  the  meeting-house, 
"and  shot  their  logic  at  each  other  over  the  heads  of  the 
audience."  In  1770,  a  stage  for  the  speakers  was  first 
erected,  and  in  1787  this  form  of  disputation  was  changed 
for  monologues,  which  continued  to  figure  on  the  program, 
or  "scheme,"  as  "disputes"  for  many  years  afterwards. 
After  1780,  President  Stiles  introduced  English  and  Greek 
orations;  also  English  "colloquies,"  or  dramatic  dialogues, 
often  of  a  humorous  character,  which  held  their  place  until 
about  1840,  and  were  generally  regarded  by  the  audience  as 
the  most  interesting  and  profitable  feature  of  the  whole 
performance.  Music  as  a  part  of  the  exercises  first 
appeared  in  1781,  at  which  time  an  anthem  was  performed 
by  the  choir.  Forenoon  and  afternoon  sessions  prevailed 
until  1869,  beginning  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  and 
closing  at  about  six  in  the  afternoon,  with  an  interruption 


AS   AN    EDUCATIONAL   CAMPUS.  211 

of  two  hours  for  the  commencement  dinner.  Until  about 
1840,  ladies  and  gentlemen  sat  together  in  the  audience, 
with  the  natural  result  that  the  whispering  and  flirtation 
compelled  the  speakers  to  strain  their  vocal  organs  to  a 
painful  and  dangerous  degree.  For  the  promotion  of  quiet 
the  fair  sex  was  relegated  to  the  galleries,  where,  "tier  on 
tier  arrayed,"  they  presented  a  brilliant  and  beautiful 
spectacle,  like  a  vision  of  the  angelic  host  at  the  time 
when  "there  was  silence  in  heaven  for  the  space  of  half  an 
hour." 


Other  Commencement  Exercises. 

After  the  Revolution  the  custom  grew  up  of  having  a 
ball  on  commencement  evening.  These  balls  were  some- 
times held  in  the  State  House,  and  we  have  an  account  of 
one  in  that  building  in  1784,  which  was  a  very  brilliant 
affair.  Eight  hundred  tickets  were  issued  and  the  crowd 
was  so  great  that  dancing  was  impossible.  The  commence- 
ment balls  were  given  irregularly  after  1800  and  were  finally 
discontinued  about  1840.  At  about  the  same  time  the 
literary  features  of  commencement  week  were  amplified  so 
as  to  introduce  several  new  exercises,  which  were  generally 
held  in  one  of  the  churches  on  the  Green.  These  were 
a  doctrinal  sermon  called  the  Concio  ad  Clerum,  preached 
on  Tuesday  evening  in  the  North  Church  by  some  leading 
divine  selected  for  the  occasion,  and  an  oration  on  Wednes- 
day before  the  undergraduate  literary  societies  by  a  speaker 
of  national  reputation.  These  also  fell  out  of  use  and  were 
succeeded  about  1846  by  alumni  meetings  held  on  the  col- 
lege grounds,  with  other  changes  unnecessary  to  mention. 


212  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 


Old  Associations  cherished. 

The  use  of  the  Green  as  a  play-ground  for  more  than 
two  hundred  years  by  the  schools  and  college  will  be  con- 
sidered in  another  paper.  This  use  was  terminated  by  city 
ordinance  in  1858.  In  1895,  when  the  commencement 
exercises  in  the  Center  Church  were  abolished,  the  last 
of  the  uses  which  linked  the  Green  directly  with  college  life 
was  severed;  and  it  may  also  be  said  that  at  about  the  same 
time  the  college  itself,  by  merger  into  the  university,  had 
ceased  to  exist.  Happily  and  suitably,  however,  the  long 
association  between  the  college  and  the  Green  is  still  made 
a  subject  of  recognition  in  the  annual  commencement 
proceedings,  for  still  on  those  occasions  the  procession, 
leaving  the  university  campus,  passes  over  to  the  Green  and 
wends  its  course  beneath  the  shadow  of  the  venerable 
church  edifice  which,  with  its  predecessors,  has  been  so 
inseparably  identified  with  the  college  history.  It  is  fitting 
that  these  filial  relations  should  be  thus  recalled,  and  it 
would  give  a  pleasing  emphasis  to  this  recognition  if,  while 
the  procession  is  crossing  the  Green,  the  bell  of  the  old 
First  Church  should  sound  a  note  of  greeting  and  reminis- 
cence. Why,  indeed,  on  these  occasions  should  not  all  the 
churches  on  the  Green,  mother  and  daughters  in  unison, 
reviving  a  former  custom,  herald  with  mingled  peal 
the  march  of  the  scholastic  array?  Such  a  feature  of  this 
academic  festival  would  appropriately  express  the  friendly 
sympathy  between  religion  and  learning  which  Yale  has 
always  been  foremost  to  proclaim  and  cherish:  that  sym- 
pathy in  whose  spirit  our  forefathers,  as  soon  as  they  planted 
their  colony,  established  a  school  "for  the  training  up  of 
youth  that  through  the  blessing  of  God  they  might  be  fitted 
for  publique  service  in  church  and  commonweale." 


NOTES  TO  PAPER  No.  VI. 


NOTE  i  (page  182). 

For  the  satisfaction  of  those  who  may  be  interested  to  know  how 
this  conclusion  respecting  the  site  of  the  first  school-house  has  been 
reached,  I  will  state  my  reasons  for  it.  The  town  records  show  the 
enlargement  and  practical  reconstruction  of  the  first  school-house  in 
1660,  and  there  is  no  indication  that  another  was  built  till  1718.  In 
that  year  the  town  voted  "to  build  a  new  school-house  on  some  con- 
venient place  on  the  market  place."  In  1723  it  voted  that  "the  select- 
men change  away  the  old  school-house  for  the  new  school-house  with 
the  undertakers  for  it  provided  they  will  relinquish  their  right  in  the 
old  house  when  exchanged  to  the  Town  Parrish."  By  the  "Town 
Parrish"  is  meant  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society  and  by  "the  under- 
takers for  it"  must  have  been  meant  the  trustees  of  the  grammar 
school,  who  had  an  interest  in  the  old  school-house  and  who  apparently 
had  offered  to  take  the  new  one  off  the  town's  hands.  This  new  school- 
house  was  undoubtedly  the  "grammar  school-house"  which  appears 
on  Wadsworth's  map,  and  the  "old  school-house"  (presumably  after 
repairs)  was  continued  in  use  by  the  town  for  an  English  school.  The 
records  of  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society  show  the  maintenance  of 
this  public  school  after  1723  until  1755,  when  the  Society  voted  "that 
the  old  English  school-house  be  repaired  or  a  new  one  built."  That  a 
new  one  was  built  appears  from  the  General  Assembly  act  of  1760 
dividing  property  between  the  First  and  White  Haven  Ecclesiastical 
Societies,  which  awarded  "the  new  brick  school-house"  to  the  two 
societies  jointly.  Thus  it  appears  that  "the  old  English  school-house" 
was  not  superseded  by  its  brick  successor  till  1755,  and  consequently 
the  building  shown  in  Wadsworth's  map  of  1748  as  standing  on  the 
site  which  the  brick  school-house  afterwards  occupied  must  have  been 
"the  old  English  school-house"  whose  original  construction  dated 
back  to  1643. 

NOTE  2  (page  183). 

This  duty  was  faithfully  performed  by  the  selectmen  for  many  years, 
as  their  records  show.  As  late  as  1808,  by  a  statute  passed  in  1715,  the 
selectmen  of  every  town  in  Connecticut  were  directed  to  "make  diligent 
inquiry  of  all  housekeepers  how  they  are  furnished  with  bibles  and 
to  require  each  family  to  have  one  bible  at  least  and  more  according 
to  numbers  and  circumstances,"  and  also  "a  suitable  number  of 


214  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

orthodox  catechisms  and  other  good  books  of  practical  godliness  and 
the  like."  Parents  and  masters  were  also  required  to  instruct  their 
children  to  "read  and  to  learn  some  short  orthodox  catechism,"  and  the 
selectmen  were  enjoined  "to  have  a  vigilant  eye"  on  their  brethren  and 
neighborhoods  "so  that  none  of  them  suffer  so  much  barbarism"  as  the 
disregard  of  these  obligations,  and  to  prosecute  any  persons  who 
should  neglect  their  duties  in  these  respects. 

NOTE  3  (page  188). 

There  were  colored  servants  (probably  native  Africans)  in  several 
households  of  New  Haven  at  an  earlier  date,  as  appears  by  references  to 
"Antony,  Mr.  Eaton's  neagar,"  and  to  "Matthew,  Mr.  Evans  his  neagar." 
So  also  there  are  allusions  to  Indians  employed  in  the  same  capacity, 
as  "Time,  Mr.  Hooke's  Indian,"  and  others,  but  it  does  not  appear 
that  servants  of  either  class  were  bought  and  sold  at  that  period  as 
personal  property. 

NOTE  4  (page  196). 

Soon  after  the  brick  school-house  was  built,  the  First  Ecclesiastical 
Society,  in  consequence  of  its  internal  dissensions,  was  divided  by  an 
act  of  the  General  Assembly  and  a  second  society  formed  called  "The 
White  Haven  Society."  By  the  act  (passed  in  1760)  "the  new  brick 
school-house  and  the  bell"  were  apportioned  to  both  societies  jointly, 
"the  school-house  to  be  used  for  schooling  by  turns  by  each  society 
quarterly."  Apparently  the  feeling  was  so  bitter  between  the  two 
societies  that  they  could  not  agree  to  educate  their  children  together. 
In  February,  1765,  "upon  the  motion  of  a  number  of  persons"  the 
proprietors  granted  permission  "to  set  up  a  new  school-house  on  ye 
southern  side  of  ye  graves  upon  ye  line  which  shall  be  stated  for 
fencing  sd  graves;"  and  in  April  of  the  same  year  leave  was  granted 
to  Leverett  Hubbard  and  others  to  build  a  new  school-house  "at  ye 
south  end  of  ye  new  State  House,  east  side,  said  house  to  be  in  a  line 
with  ye  east  line  of  ye  State  House  and  ye  south  end  of  sd  house  to 
joyn  to  the  highway."  Why  these  two  additional  school-houses  should 
have  been  suddenly  called  for  is  not  very  clear.  Possibly  the  Episco- 
palians, who  had  now  begun  to  be  numerous  and  influential,  anticipated 
trouble  with  the  grammar  school  trustees  on  account  of  the  intolerant 
town  vote  of  1723.  Possibly  it  was  a  result  of  the  doctrinal  disputes 
which  were  then  rife  in  the  White  Haven  Society,  and  which  split  it 
in  two  immediately  afterwards.  In  1769  the  Fair  Haven  Society 
obtained  liberty  to  build  a  meeting-house  on  the  market  place  "on  the 
same  place  where  the  brick  school-house  now  is,  if  they  will  move  the 
school-house  to  some  other  place,  or  if  they  prefer  not  to  do  this  then 
to  build  on  the  south  end  of  the  school-house  in  a  line  with  the  brick 
meeting-house."  The  last  named  course  was  adopted,  and  neither  of 
the  two  proposed  school-houses  was  ever  built,  so  that  the  brick  school- 
house  was  left  undisturbed  and  without  a  rival. 


VII. 
THE  GREEN  AS  A  MARKET  PLACE. 

When  the  early  inhabitants  of  New  Haven  spoke  of  the 
Green  as  a  "market  place,"  they  used  the  term  with  the 
broad  signification  which  it  then  universally  conveyed; 
meaning  an  open  space  for  all  public  uses  and  gatherings 
whether  of  political,  military,  civic  or  business  nature.  In 
the  crowded  walled  cities  of  the  time,  such  an  open  space  for 
general  purposes  was  indispensable.  Its  most  frequent  use 
was  for  the  daily  or  weekly  market,  yet  this  occupied  it  but 
a  few  hours  of  the  day,  and  when  the  booths  and  benches 
were  cleared  away  the  area  was  devoted  to  miscellaneous 
activities  and  affairs.  Here  the  citizens  assembled  to  dis- 
cuss news  and  politics;  here  orators  and  preachers  aired 
their  eloquence;  here  occurred  public  ceremonials,  games 
and  displays;  here  mobs  collected  and  riots  and  revolutions 
began;  and  when  it  was  deserted  by  the  older  generation, 
children  made  it  their  playground  and  "sitting  in  the  market 
place,  called  to  their  fellows."  Having  in  previous  papers 
recalled  the  principal  occasions  of  a  political,  religious  and 
military  character  with  which  the  Green  has  been  identified, 
it  only  remains  to  review  the  business  and  miscellaneous 
features  of  its  use  as  a  market  place.  In  this  paper,  there- 
fore, I  shall  devote  myself  to  its  connection  with  public 
fairs  and  markets,  with  the  discussion  and  regulation  of 
trade,  commerce  and  finance;  with  popular  assemblages, 
whether  for  festive  displays  and  celebrations,  or  in  the  spirit 
of  tumult  and  disorder;  and  also  to  its  use  as  a  public  play- 
ground. 


216  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 


Markets  and  Fairs. 

As  a  place  for  holding  public  markets  or  fairs  the  experi- 
ence of  the  Green  has  not  been  extensive.  It  had  an  early 
commencement,  however,  for  in  1644,  when  the  town  was 
hardly  more  than  a  few  log  huts  in  the  forest,  the  General 
Court  ordered  that  there  should  be  "two  markets  or  fayres 
for  cattel  and  other  goods  every  year  at  New  Haven,  one 
on  the  third  Wednesday  in  May  and  the  other  on  the  third 
Wednesday  in  September";  and  it  was  further  ordered  that 
"lost  goods  be  publicly  cried  on  a  faire  day  when  the  great- 
est concourse  of  people  may  be  present  and  heare  it." 
There  is  no  evidence  that  the  crier's  voice  was  greatly 
strained  to  reach  the  farther  edges  of  the  crowd  on  these 
occasions,  nevertheless  more  or  less  business  seems  to  have 
been  transacted  at  the  fairs.  They  were  also  not  neglected 
as  places  for  flirtation,  for  in  1649  some  gay  triflers  were 
obliged  to  explain  to  the  court  their  motives  in  making 
presents  "to  Rebecka  Turner  at  the  faire,"  one  of  them  hav- 
ing given  her  "lace  for  a  hankercher"  and  the  other  "some 
cloth."  Needless  to  say,  these  pleasant  little  gallantries 
were  sharply  discouraged  by  the  court,  and  as  fairs  with 
little  business  and  no  flirtation  were  of  no  use  to  anybody, 
the  attempt  to  maintain  them  was  abandoned  in  1655. 

After  1655  it  seems  probable  that  no  more  markets  or 
fairs  were  held  on  the  Green  until  1833.  It  was,  however, 
in  frequent  use  as  the  customary  place  for  sheriff's  sales  by 
auction  or  "public  vendue,"  as  such  proceedings  were  gen- 
erally termed.  The  sale  of  Lois  Tritton  at  the  sign-post  as 
a  slave  in  1825  has  been  referred  to  in  another  paper,  and 
there  may  have  been  similar  cases  when  slavery  was  a 
recognized  institution.  Sales  of  laborers,  vagrants  and 
criminals  for  limited  terms  of  service,  either  under  contract 
or  as  legal  penalties,  were  not  uncommon  before  the  Revo- 
lution; and  from  1763  to  1786  the  town  paupers  were 
annually  sold  at  auction  on  the  State  House  steps,  to  such 
parties  as  would  keep  them  at  the  lowest  rates. 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  217 

When  the  city  government  was  organized  in  1784,  public 
attention  was  at  once  directed  to  the  establishment  of  a 
market  as  a  suitable  city  institution.  There  was  already 
one  market  house  in  New  Haven  standing  in  George  street 
at  the  end  of  Church.  It  is  shown  in  Stiles'  map  of  1775 
and  is  referred  to  in  an  advertisement  in  1801  as  "the  old 
market  place." 

In  April,  1785,  a  vote  of  the  Common  Council  authorized 
the  erection  of  a  market  building  by  private  subscription 
"in  Chapel  street  at  the  southeast  corner  of  the  Green." 
This  building  was  put  up  and  is  said  to  have  stood  on  the 
Green,  but  it  was  probably  a  small  affair,  and  was  super- 
seded in  the  following  year  by  the  erection  of  a  large  market 
building  by  the  city  itself  over  the  creek  just  south  of  the 
present  Chapel  street  railroad  bridge.  In  May,  1787,  the 
Common  Council  ordered  that  "the  three  market  houses 
which  have  been  erected  shall  be  continued  and  no  others 
built."  The  building  on  the  Green  (if  it  was  in  fact  on  the 
Greenland  not  in  the  street)  was  probably  little  used  and 
was  removed  about  1799.  The  city  market  maintained  a 
languishing  existence  for  many  years  in  spite  of  repeated 
efforts  to  invigorate  it,  and  especially  in  1825.  About  1830 
the  system  as  a  city  institution  was  abandoned  and  the 
market  building  was  taken  down  in  1843. 

The  failure  of  these  attempts  to  establish  public  markets 
in  New  Haven  was  perhaps  partly  owing  to  the  fact  that  up 
to  1840  and  later  nearly  every  householder  had  a  kitchen 
garden  of  his  own,  and  raised  a  considerable  part  of  the 
vegetables  required  for  his  own  family  use.  From  this 
general  practice  of  horticulture  arose  in  1830  the  New 
Haven  Horticultural  Society,  which  in  cooperation  with  the 
County  Agricultural  Society  revived  in  a  notable  manner, 
though  in  different  form,  the  old  colonial  fairs  on  the  Green, 
"for  cattel  and  other  goods."  At  these  annual  fairs  the 
Horticultural  Society  exhibited  for  two  days  in  the  State 
House,  which  was  handsomely  decorated  for  the  occasion, 
marvelous  squashes  and  pumpkins,  grapes  and  pears,  with 


218  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

other  vegetables  and  fruits,  and  flowers  in  endless  profusion 
and  variety,  all  of  home  production,  together  with  a  large 
display  of  articles  of  local  manufacture.  The  agricultural 
fair  was  held  at  the  same  time  for  one  day  only.  The  pro- 
ceedings of  this  day  began  at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning  with 
a  general  peal  of  bells.  Soon  after  long  trains  of  ox  teams 
from  the  surrounding  towns  began  to  arrive,  drawing  gaily 
decorated  carts  filled  with  bands  of  music  and  smiling  dam- 
sels waving  banners.  Prizes  were  given  for  the  best  dis- 
plays of  working  cattle  and  the  result  was  really  magnificent 
exhibitions  of  live  stock.  To  the  agricultural  fair  in  1843 
there  came  from  Derby  24  yoke  of  selected  oxen;  from 
Cheshire,  24  yoke;  from  East  Haven,  66  yoke;  from  Ham- 
den,  1 8  yoke;  from  Branford,  150  yoke;  while  Orange 
brought  151  yoke  and  took  the  prize.  Thus  on  this 
occasion  there  were  gathered  on  the  Green  from  these  six 
small  towns  over  nine  hundred  of  those  splendid  and  classic 
creatures  which  are  now  almost  as  rarely  seen  on  our  streets 
as  buffaloes,  and  which  to  the  next  generation  will  probably 
be  known  only  by  some  stuffed  specimen  in  the  Peabody 
Museum.  Pens  were  erected  on  both  sides  of  Temple 
street,  across  the  Green,  and  here  were  quartered  the 
animals  and  fowls  which  were  entered  in  competition  for 
prizes.  In  the  afternoon  there  was  a  plowing  match,  and 
a  collation,  and  an  address,  and  on  the  following  day  the 
Horticultural  Society  held  an  auction  on  the  south  steps 
of  the  State  House.  These  fairs  commenced  on  the  Green 
in  September,  1833,  and  continued  till  1856.  In  that  year 
the  agricultural  display  was  had  at  Grapevine  Point,  and 
the  Horticultural  Society,  owing  to  limited  means,  dis- 
continued its  annual  exhibition.  This  closed  the  record  of 
the  Green  as  a  place  for  holding  public  fairs,  except  for  an 
occasional  charity  bazaar  held  in  the  basement  room  of  the 
State  House. 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  219 

Currency  and  Finance. 

We  now  come  to  the  wider  uses  of  the  Green  as  a  market 
place,  and  will  consider  it  in  the  light  of  a  business  and 
financial  center — the  place  where  for  more  than  two  hun- 
dred years  matters  of  trade,  commerce  and  industry  were 
discussed  and  regulated. 

Of  these  subjects  those  connected  with  currency  and 
finance  are  of  primary  importance  and  should  receive  our 
first  attention.  The  first  financial  legislation  on  New 
Haven  Green  was  an  order  passed  by  the  General  Court  in 
November,  1640,  that  "wampum  shall  goe  in  this  planta- 
tion for  6  a  penny."  For  want  of  a  sufficient  circulating 
medium,  business  in  the  newly  settled  colony  was  soon 
brought  to  a  system  of  barter,  and  in  1641  "corne,  cattel, 
bever  and  worke,"  were  made  a  legal  tender  at  prices  estab- 
lished by  the  Court.  In  1645  tne  General  Court  enacted 
as  follows:  "In  order  that  commerce  may  be  better  carryed 
on  betwixt  man  and  man  where  money  is  scarce,  it  is 
ordered  that  Spanish  money  called  peeces  of  eight  shall 
passe  here  as  they  doe  in  some  other  parts  of  the  country 
at  five  shillings  apiece;  and  that  Indian  wampum  shall 
passe  the  white  at  six  a  penny  and  the  blacke  at  three  a 
penny;  and  some  men  being  at  present  loathe  to  receive 
the  blacke,  it  is  ordered  that  in  any  payment  under  20  shil- 
lings halfe  white  and  half  blacke  shall  be  accounted  currency 
paye,  only  if  any  question  arise  about  the  goodness  of  the 
wompum  whether  white  or  blacke,  Mr.  Goodyeare,  if  the 
parties  repaire  untou  him,  is  intreated  to  judge  therein." 
Wampum  had  in  fact  about  as  uncertain  a  value  as  silver 
dollars  at  the  present  time,  or  state  bank  shin-plasters 
"before  the  war,"  and  the  services  of  Mr.  Goodyear  as 
appraiser  and  counterfeit  detector  were  doubtless  in  fre- 
quent demand.  It  consisted  of  small  spiral  shells,  white  or 
black,  perforated  for  stringing,  the  black  being  the  most 
valuable.  But  the  wily  aboriginal,  concurring  in  the  doc- 
trine of  some  modern  financiers,  that  volume  of  currency  is 


220  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

more  important  than  quality,  betook  himself  to  dyeing 
inferior  shells  and  small  soft  stones,  and  it  is  safe  to  pre- 
sume that  his  civilized  brother  was  not  far  behind  him 
in  similar  wealth-creating  devices.  Strange  to  say,  these 
commendable  efforts  to  supply  the  community  with  money 
failed  to  bring  public  opulence;  and  in  1648,  probably 
through  some  gold-bug  influence,  the  General  Court  par- 
tially demonetized  wampum  by  enacting  that  it  "should 
not  be  forced  upon  any  man  for  payment  unless  in  some 
manner  suitably  stringed,  and  if  any  stone  wampum  be 
presented,  it  be  broken."  The  value  of  wampum  for  pay- 
ing debts  being  thus  impaired,  it  came  into  high  favor  for 
church  contributions,  until  its  use  for  this  purpose  was  also 
stopped  by  the  Court.  There  was  so  little  of  any  other 
circulating  medium,  however,  that  it  continued  to  be 
employed  in  trade,  though  in  diminishing  proportions,  for 
over  fifty  years  and  was  in  use  for  change  as  late  as  1704. 

Inferior  substitutes  for  money  and  the  requirements  of 
foreign  commerce  soon  caused  specie  to  disappear  from 
view  and  even  small  amounts  of  it  were  obtained  with  dif- 
ficulty. In  1645  tne  New  Haven  delegates  to  the  Congress 
of  the  New  England  Confederation  were  unable  to  leave 
until  the  authorities  could  persuade  the  Widow  Wiggles- 
worth  to  lend  them  £5  in  silver,  with  copious  protestation 
that  "neither  she  nor  her  children  should  suffer  by  it." 
And  on  other  similar  occasions,  no  silver  being  procurable, 
the  delegates  were  supplied  with  beaver,  butter  and  other 
products  to  be  sold  in  Boston  in  order  to  pay  their  expenses. 

After  1680  the  currency  famine  in  New  Haven  was  to 
some  extent  relieved  by  the  circulation  of  Bay  shillings,  or 
"pine  tree  shillings,"  which  were  coined  in  Boston.  Being 
lighter  than  the  English  shilling,  it  took  six  of  them  to 
equal  the  Spanish  "piece  of  eight  reals,"  which  by  the 
ordinance  of  1645  had  been  rated  at  five  English  shillings, 
and  which  were  intrinsically  worth  four  shillings  and  six- 
pence. Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Spanish  dollar  of 
eight  reals  was  afterward  a  six-shilling  dollar  in  New  Eng- 


AS   A    MARKET   PLACE.  221 

land,  while  in  New  York,  where  the  Bay  shillings  did  not 
circulate,  it  was  an  eight-shilling  dollar,  the  real  being  called 
a  shilling.  Hence  arose  the  distinction  between  "Yankee 
shillings"  and  "York  shillings,"  so  familiar  fifty  years  ago, 
and  the  use  of  "nine-pences,"  and  "fo'-pence-a'pennies," 
which  then  entered  into  nearly  every  calculation  of  local 
traffic. 

After  1700,  besides  Bay  shillings  and  English  coins,  the 
hard  money  in  circulation  (what  little  there  was)  was  a 
promiscuous  assortment  of  Spanish,  Spanish-American, 
French,  Dutch  and  Portuguese  coins,  which  were  rated  dif- 
ferently in  nearly  all  the  North  American  colonies.  This 
variety  in  valuation  caused  so  much  inconvenience  to  Eng- 
lish merchants  that  in  1704  Queen  Anne,  by  proclamation 
(afterward  confirmed  by  act  of  Parliament),  fixed  a  rating 
for  each  of  the  foreign  coins  so  current,  and  ordered  its 
general  adoption.  Thereafter  these  coins  and  all  specie 
in  circulation,  and  paper  money  redeemable  in  specie,  were 
known  as  "Proclamation  money,"  or  more  commonly 
"Prock  money,"  down  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  or 
later. 

With  all  these  different  kinds  of  currency  in  use,  shop- 
ping in  New  Haven  was  a  very  complicated  process,  and 
so  Madame  Knight,  a  Boston  lady,  found  it  when  she  made 
a  visit  here  in  1704.  She  says:  "The  traders  rate  their 
goods  according  to  the  time  and  kind  of  money  they  are 
paid  in,  viz.:  'pay,'  'money/  'pay  as  money,'  and  'trusting.' 
'Pay'  is  grain,  pork,  beef,  etc.,  at  the  price  set  by  the  General 
Assembly  for  that  year.  'Money,'  is  pieces  of  eight  reals, 
or  Bay  shillings,  or  'good  hard  money,'  as  silver  coin  is 
sometimes  termed  by  them;  also  wampum  or  Indian  beads, 
which  serve  for  change.  'Pay  as  money,'  is  provisions 
as  aforesaid,  one-third  cheaper  than  as  the  Assembly  in 
general  sets  it;  and  'Trust'  as  they  and  the  merchants  agree 
for  time."  She  adds:  "It  seems  a  very  intricate  way  of 
trade,"  and  she  probably  made  few  purchases  at  the  "bar- 
gain counters"  of  New  Haven. 


222  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 


Currency  Inflation. 

In  1709,  in  order  to  provide  funds  for  impending  war, 
Connecticut,  by  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  passed  on 
New  Haven  Green,  embarked  for  the  first  time  on  the 
stormy  sea  of  paper  money.  The  voyage  was  long  and 
disastrous,  and  it  was  not  till  1756  that  the  colony  brought 
its  shattered  financial  bark  into  port.  This  was  effected 
by  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  likewise  passed  at  New  Haven, 
for  redeeming  the  outstanding  colony  bills  at  one-ninth  of 
their  nominal  value.  Notwithstanding  the  lessons  of  this 
experiment,  only  ten  years  later,  after  the  Revolution  had 
opened,  the  General  Assembly  at  New  Haven  in  October, 
1776,  again  established  a  paper  currency  by  declaring  both 
state  and  continental  bills  to  be  money,  and  making  them 
"a  legal  tender  as  money  in  all  payments  within  this  state." 
As  the  inevitable  result,  prices  of  all  commodities  rapidly 
rose,  and  by  other  acts  passed  at  New  Haven,  a  few  months 
later,  Mrs.  Partington's  broom  was  brought  into  requisi- 
tion to  sweep  out  the  Atlantic.  These  acts  were  levelled 
at  so-called  "monopolizers  and  oppressors,"  and  aimed  at 
their  circumvention  by  fixing  a  legal  standard  of  prices. 
But  the  tide  continued  to  swell  and  the  broom  was  called 
into  more  frantic  action.  A  law  passed  at  New  Haven  in 
1777  forbade  any  person  whatever  to  buy  or  sell  the  neces- 
saries of  life  except  in  small  quantities  for  his  own  consump- 
tion, "till  he  had  become  known  as  a  friend  of  freedom, 
had  obtained  a  license,  and  taken  the  oath  of  fidelity."  In 

1778,  by  request  of  Congress,  a  convention  of  delegates 
from  several  states  was  held  at  New  Haven  in  the  State 
House,  which  revised  the  current  prices  of  provisions  and 
other  supplies,  and  recommended  the  Legislatures  of  their 
several  states  to  legalize  the  rates  by  them   established. 
The  State  of  Connecticut  promptly  did  so,  and  in  June, 

1779,  the    citizens    of    New    Haven,    in    town    meeting 
assembled,    voted,    with    a    noble    enthusiasm,    that    they 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  ^O 

"would  receive  the  continental  money  at  par,  equal  to  gold 
and  silver"  and  "would  frely  sell  all  commodities  for  it 
at  the  same  rates."  The  resolution  passed  by  264  to  8, 
and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  not  one  of  the  patriotic 
majority  had  the  slightest  intention  of  acting  in  accord- 
ance with  his  vote.  Still  the  downfall  of  continental 
currency  went  on,  and  at  New  Haven  in  October,  1788,  the 
General  Assembly  recognized  its  collapse  by  enacting  that 
private  contracts  made  at  different  periods  of  its  decline 
should  be  settled  at  the  currency  quotations  prevalent  when 
the  contracts  were  made.  In  October,  1794  (again  at  New 
Haven)  the  same  principle  of  liquidation  was  adopted  in  the 
settlement  of  the  state  war  debt  then  outstanding.  From 
this  time  until  after  1861  the  financial  legislation  on  the 
Green  was  of  no  historic  importance. 


Copper  Coinage. 

Having  thus  disparaged  the  reputation  of  the  Green  by 
connecting  it  with  acts  of  soft-money  inflation,  let  us  turn 
to  the  brighter  page  of  its  association  with  genuine  coin. 
In  October,  1785,  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut,  in 
session  at  New  Haven,  granted  power  to  Samuel  Bishop, 
James  Hillhouse  and  others  to  establish  a  mint  at  New 
Haven  for  coining  copper  pennies.  The  mint  was  located 
on  the  water  side  near  the  present  Water  street  park,  and  a 
large  quantity  of  coins  were  struck  there.  These  coins  had 
on  their  face  a  man's  head  surrounded  with  the  legend 
"Auctori.  Connect.,"  and  on  the  reverse  a  figure  of  liberty 
with  the  abbreviation  "Inde.  et  Lib."  As  a  business  enter- 
prise the  mint  was  unsuccessful.  The  coins  being  too  light, 
depreciated  in  value,  and  sold  in  New  Haven  at  the  rate  of 
four  or  even  six  for  a  penny.  In  1787  this  mint  began  to 
strike  the  first  coins  that  were  issued  by  authority  of  the 
United  States.  These  were  copper  cents  of  the  pattern  pre- 
scribed by  act  of  Congress  of  the  Confederation,  July  6, 


224:  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

1787.  They  showed  on  one  side  a  chain  of  thirteen  links 
in  a  circle,  within  which  was  a  smaller  circle  composed  of 
the  words  "United  States,"  enclosing  the  legend,  "We  are 
one."  On  the  other  side  was  a  sundial  with  a  sun  above 
and  the  inscription,  "Fugio,  1787,"  and  below  the  dial  the 
motto,  "Mind  your  business."  The  significance  of  this 
device  can  only  be  conjectured.  Possibly  the  sundial  with 
the  words  "Fugio  1787"  may  refer  to  the  then  impending 
dissolution  of  the  Confederation;  while  the  motto,  "Mind 
your  business"  is  certainly  suggestive  of  hard  common 
sense.  The  coins  from  this  mint  were  not  uncommon  in 
New  Haven  sixty  years  ago,  and  were  then  occasionally 
found  on  the  site  where  the  building  had  previously  stood. 

Weights  and  Measures. 

After  money,  the  measure  of  value,  we  naturally  expect 
that  weights  and  other  measures  of  quantity  will  be  con- 
sidered and  regulated  on  the  market  place.  As  early  as  1644 
the  colony  adopted  a  recommendation  of  the  Congress  of 
the  New  England  Confederacy  that  the  London  standard 
of  weights  and  measures  should  prevail  throughout  New 
England;  and  all  persons  were  ordered  to  bring  their 
weights  and  measures  to  the  meeting-house  on  a  certain 
day  to  be  verified  and  marked.  The  law  was  careful  to 
require  that  "every  ell  or  yard  should  contain  a  thum's 
breadth  over;"  that  "a  hundred  weight  should  be  five  score 
and  twelve  pounds;"  and  that  "of  all  sorts  of  nails  sold  by 
the  hundred  six  score  should  be  allowed  to  the  hundred." 
As  scriptural  authority  for  these  required  deviations  from 
accuracy,  a  marginal  note  unblushingly  cited  Deuteronomy 
xxv,  14:  "Thou  shalt  not  have  in  thy  house  divers  weights 
and  measures,  a  great  and  a  small;  but  thou  shalt  have  a 
perfect  and  just  weight;  a  perfect  and  just  weight  shalt 
thou  have." 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE. 


High  Prices  Not  Favored. 

With  the  same  careful  regard  for  the  interests  of  pur- 
chasers, the  Court  restricted  the  rates  of  profits  to  be  made 
by  shopkeepers  in  their  local  trade.  In  May,  1641,  it  was 
ordered  that  "commoditys  well  bought  in  England  for 
ready  money  shall  not  be  sold  at  retayle  for  above  three 
pence  in  the  shilling  for  proffit,  and  when  sold  by  wholesale 
less  proffit  may  suffice.  Goods  bought  from  vessels  must 
not  take  proffit  at  over  one  and  half-pence  in  the  shilling 
by  retale."  At  the  same  time  prices  were  fixed  for  a  large 
number  of  commodities  and  for  various  kinds  of  labor,  and 
though  this  law  was  repealed  in  1643,  a  case  came  before 
the  Court  in  1645  whose  outcome  showed  that  its  spirit 
still  survived.  One  of  the  three  retail  merchants  of  the 
town,  a  Mrs.  Stolion,  had  a  difference  with  Capt.  Turner 
over  a  trade  about  a  cow,  and  the  gallant  captain,  finding 
the  case  not  going  in  court  quite  to  his  satisfaction,  turned 
the  tables  on  his  adversary  by  charging  her  with  asking 
extortionate  prices  for  her  goods.  Of  this  heinous  prac- 
tice on  her  part  he  cited  numerous  particulars,  and  with 
great  solemnity  appealed  to  the  court  "whether  she  ought 
not  to  be  dealt  with  as  an  oppressor  of  the  commonweale." 
This  ponderous  appellation  so  deeply  impressed  the  court 
that  it  quite  forgot  to  decide  the  controversy  between  the 
parties,  and  proceeded  to  bind  Mrs.  Stolion  over  for  trial 
as  a  person  dangerous  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  body 
politic.  Happily  for  the  commonwealth  and  probably  for 
Mrs.  Stolion  also,  before  her  case  was  next  reached,  she 
was  called  to  settle  her  own  last  account  before  a  tribunal 
more  likely  to  be  impartial  than  one  composed  of  her  own 
customers ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  she  found  it  less  exact- 
ing in  its  dealings  with  her  than  she  seems  to  have  been 
in  her  own  methods  of  doing  business. 

After  this  merciful  interposition  of  Providence,  the  com- 
munity breathed  more  freely,  but  the  warning  did  not  pass 
15 


226  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

unheeded.  When  the  colony  laws  were  codified  by  Gover- 
nor Eaton  in  1655,  one  was  inserted  under  the  title 
"Oppression,"  which  forbade  any  person  "to  take  excessive 
wages  for  work  or  unreasonable  prices  for  commodities" 
under  penalty  of  fine  or  imprisonment;  but  judiciously 
made  no  reference  to  oppressors  who  might  obtain  goods 
or  labor  at  prices  unreasonably  cheap.  This  law  continued 
substantially  unchanged  on  the  statute  books  of  the  colony 
and  state  until  after  1808.  As  nobody  was  ever  prosecuted 
under  it,  we  must  conclude  that  Mrs.  Stolion  has  never  had 
any  successor  here  who  oppressed  the  commonweal  by 
charging  high  prices  for  goods  or  services.  Doubtless  the 
salutary  lesson  conveyed  by  her  fate  accounts  for  the 
extremely  low  cost  of  living  for  which  New  Haven  is  now 
and  always  has  been  so  enviably  distinguished. 


Foreign  Commerce  Encouraged. 

When  we  turn  our  attention  to  commerce  and  manu- 
factures as  subjects  of  public  consideration  in  the  market 
place,  we  find  a  copious  record,  and  it  will  only  be  possible 
to  review  its  most  important  features  in  a  cursory  manner. 
External  commerce  was,  in  fact,  the  chief  motive  for  the 
settlement  of  New  Haven,  and  this  purpose  was  reflected 
in  the  choice  of  its  name.  It  was  expected  that  furs  would 
be  a  principal  article  of  export,  and  doubtless  Beaver  Pond, 
which  received  its  name  in  the  very  first  years  of  the  colony, 
was  relied  upon  to  furnish  a  considerable  part  of  the  supply. 
But  as  that  now  charming  incipient  park  had  not  then 
become  a  common  receptacle  for  defunct  cats  and  dogs 
and  other  extinct  fur-bearing  animals,  its  resources  as  a 
felt-producing  region  was  soon  exhausted  and  attention 
was  turned  to  the  country  about  Delaware  Bay  as 
likely  to  be  of  more  lasting  productiveness.  Accord- 
ingly an  extensive  tract  was  purchased  there  from  the 
same  honest  Indians  who  had  previously  sold  it  to  the 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  227 

Dutch  and  the  Swedes,  and  who  subsequently  sold  it  to 
William  Penn,  and  a  trading  post  was  established  there, 
the  tribulations  of  which  were  a  fruitful  subject  of  discus- 
sions on  the  Green  for  fifteen  years.  The  traders  were 
interfered  with  and  driven  away  by  the  Dutch  and  the 
Swedes,  and  in  spite  of  all  efforts  of  New  Haven  to  main- 
tain the  enterprise  it  was  finally  abandoned.  In  the  mean- 
time a  respectable  commerce  in  other  goods  than  furs  had 
been  built  up,  and  the  records  abound  with  references  to 
the  trade  carried  on  with  the  Barbadoes,  the  Bermudas,  the 
Azores  and  with  the  several  North  American  colonies. 
The  articles  exported  were  agricultural  products,  packed 
meat,  ship  bread,  leather  and  shoes.  With  these,  tobacco 
and  beaver  skins  were  obtained  in  Virginia,  and  hides,  rum 
and  sugar  in  the  West  India  ports,  and  these  in  turn  .were 
sent  to  England  to  be  exchanged  for  commodities  needed 
in  New  Haven.  To  insure  the  merchantable  quality  of 
goods  exported,  the  General  Court  annually  appointed 
leather  sealers,  meat  packers,  corn  viewers,  bread  inspec- 
tors and  other  officials  with  full  powers  of  seizure  and  con- 
fiscation in  case  of  faulty  material,  weight  or  workmanship. 
In  1647  Goodman  Meigs  and  another  party  were  censured 
by  the  court  after  a  long  trial  for  using  bad  leather  and 
poor  work  in  the  manufacture  of  shoes  which  were  to  go 
out  of  the  colony,  "as  if,"  said  the  court,  "the  Rules  of 
Righteousness  reached  not  to  other  places  and  countries." 
So  when  Mr.  Allerton  and  other  exporting  merchants  in 
1654  complained  of  a  baker  in  Milford  for  furnishing  "bad 
biskitt  and  flower,"  whereby  they  had  sustained  great  dam- 
age in  trying  to  dispose  of  their  goods  at  Virginia  and 
Barbadoes,  and  the  reputation  of  the  colony  there  had  also 
suffered,  the  court  sent  for  the  delinquent  baker  and  warned 
him  that  if  flour  or  bread  proved  bad  thereafter  through 
his  fault,  he  would  be  held  liable  for  the  consequences, 

Ship-building  was  an  early  and  important  industry  in 
New  Haven  Colony,  and  laws  were  passed  by  the  court  for 
the  protection  of  timber  suitable  for  that  purpose.  Most 


228  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

of  the  vessels  built  here  were  of  small  dimensions,  but  the 
records  refer  to  a  "great  shippe"  which  was  launched  in 
October,  1646,  and  to  a  "ship"  which  was  on  the  stocks  in 
1648.  Neither  of  them,  however,  was  "the  Great  Shippe," 
otherwise  known  as  Lamberton's  ship,  which  sailed  away 
in  January,  1646,  and  whose  ghost  is  famous  in  history, 
though  its  name  is  lost  in  oblivion.  Lamberton's  ship  was 
built  in  Rhode  Island,  as  Mr.  Pierpont  informs  us,  but  he 
does  not  give  her  name.  She  was  owned  by  four  persons 
called  "the  feofees"  and  was  chartered  and  freighted 
by  another  association  denominated  "The  Company  of 
Merchants  of  New  Haven."  So  much  we  gather  from 
the  report  of  a  law-suit  which  was  brought  after  her 
departure  against  the  Merchants'  Company  about  a  set 
of  blocks  furnished  to  the  ship,  it  being  a  disputed  ques- 
tion whether  they  or  the  feoffees  were  liable  to  pay. 
But  even  this  report,  though  lengthy  and  minute,  does  not 
mention  the  name  of  the  ship.  What  is  more  remarkable 
still,  nowhere  in  either  town  or  colonial  records  nor  in  any 
contemporary  document  emanating  from  New  Haven, 
is  there  any  allusion  to  her  origin,  loading  or  departure, 
or  to  her  mysterious  fate,  nor  a  word  relating  to  the  weird 
apparition  which  two  and  one-half  years  later  so  deeply 
agitated  the  community  and  sent  a  thrill  of  awe  through 
New  England.  But  for  the  interest  which  the  story  awak- 
ened in  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Pierpont's  account,  furnished 
to  Cotton  Mather  fifty  years  later,  would  never  have  been 
written,  and  we  should  be  without  a  scrap  of  local  informa- 
tion or  tradition  respecting  one  of  the  most  important, 
tragic  and  dramatic  episodes  in  the  whole  history  of  New 
Haven. 

The  other  "great  shippe,"  which  in  1646  was  owned  by 
the  same  feoffees,  was  called  "The  Fellowship."  She  is 
referred  to  several  times  by  that  name  in  the  town  and 
colonial  records  and  was  making  voyages  as  late  as  1652. 

The  Joss  of  Lamberton's  ship  was  a  killing  blow  to  New 
Haven's  hopes  of  commercial  prosperity.  Nevertheless 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  229 

a  foreign  and  coastwise  trade,  mostly  in  small  vessels 
of  from  twelve  to  forty  tons  burden,  was  carried  on  for 
a  generation  or  two  thereafter.  This  trade  had  but  slight 
relations  with  the  market  place,  and  gradually  diminished 
till  1740,  when  the  entire  fleet  of  this  port  consisted  of  two 
small  coasters  and  one  West  India  vessel. 


Manufactures  Encouraged. 

In  the  meantime  the  necessity  for  a  development  and 
variation  of  domestic  industries  was  becoming  more  and 
more  pressing.  The  policy  of  England  to  discourage 
manufacturing  as  well  as  commercial  enterprise  in  her 
North  American  colonies  was  exercised  with  growing 
stringency  and  was  borne  with  increasing  impatience.  On 
February  22,  1763,  a  town  meeting  held  in  the  market 
place  passed  a  long  resolution  of  which  the  leading  features 
were  as  follows:  "That  it  is  expedient  for  the  town  to  take 
all  prudent  and  legal  measures  to  encourage  the  produce 
and  manufactures  of  this  colony,  and  to  lessen  the  use  of 
superfluities  from  abroad;"  also  "that  we  will  be  careful  to 
promote  the  saving  of  linen  and  other  materials  for  mak- 
ing paper  in  this  town."  The  importance  and  significance 
of  this  vote  can  hardly  be  overstated.  It  was  New  Haven's 
first  response  to  measures  of  the  British  government  repres- 
sive of  colonial  manufactures  and  commerce.  It  marks  the 
beginning  of  that  great  revolution  in  colonial  sentiment 
toward  the  mother  country  which  resulted  in  political  inde- 
pendence; and  so  far  as  New  Haven  is  concerned, 
it  was  the  first  step  in  that  mighty  industrial  progress 
which  in  little  more  than  a  century  has  placed  the  United 
States  foremost  among  manufacturing  nations,  and  New 
Haven  among  the  chief  manufacturing  towns  of  the 
United  States.  It  was  a  curious  coincidence  that  such 
a  vote  should  have  been  adopted  on  the  anniversary 
of  Washington's  birthday,  and  by  another  remark- 


230  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

able  coincidence,  as  if  to  point  the  way  and  supply  the 
agencies  by  which  the  coming  republic  was  to  rise  to  indus- 
trial and  political  greatness,  a  vessel  arrived  in  port  a  few 
months  later  with  a  mixed  cargo  of  coals  and  Irishmen. 
It  was  the  first  importation  in  bulk  of  either  and  both  were 
too  much  in  advance  of  the  age  to  be  appreciated.*  What 
became  of  the  coal  is  unknown,  but  the  Irishmen  were 
taken  to  Stamford  and  there  sold  for  terms  of  service, 
probably  in  pursuance  of  contract,  to  pay  the  cost  of  their 
transportation.  How  many  of  them  were  immediately 
elected  to  office  does  not  appear,  but  it  is  certain  that  from 
that  time  forth  denunciations  of  old  England  and  a  demand 
for  home  rule  became  more  and  more  vehement.  In  1768 
and  1770  other  town  meetings  voted  measures  to  restrict 
importations  in  order  to  cripple  British  commerce  and  pro- 
mote domestic  production.  In  the  latter  year  "the  Traders 
and  other  Inhabitants  of  New  Haven"  also  held  a  meeting 
in  the  market  place  at  which  they  agreed  to  boycott  New 
York  merchants  for  their  halting  patriotism  and  to  transfer 
their  trade  to  Philadelphia  and  Boston.  In  September, 
1770,  a  convention  of  delegates  from  different  parts  of 
Connecticut  met  in  the  State  House  to  concert  measures 
for  encouraging  non-importation  and  home  manufactures, 
and  a  committee  of  thirty-eight  members  was  also  appointed 
"to  consider  the  commercial  interests  of  New  Haven." 


Internal  Commerce  Promoted. 

During  the  Revolution  the  commerce  of  New  Haven 
practically  ceased,  but  it  revived  immediately  on  the  return 
of  peace  in  1783.  At  that  time  and  until  the  United  States 

*It  must  be  confessed  that  New  Haven  was  remarkably  slow  in  per- 
ceiving the  inestimable  value  of  Hibernian  assistance  in  the  conduct  of 
civic  affairs.  Even  as  late  as  1854  the  Common  Council  laid  on  the 
table  a  petition  of  the  Irish  adopted  citizens  for  the  appointment  of 
some  of  their  number  to  be  special  constables.  Happily  since  that 
date  our  city  has  amply  atoned  for  its  previous  obtuseness  in  this  respect. 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  231 

constitution  took  effect  in  1788,  New  Haven  was  a  free 
port;  hence  the  device  on  our  city  seal  of  a  ship  under  full 
sail  with  the  motto  "Mare  Liberum."  During  the  long 
European  wars  which  followed  the  French  Revolution  and 
until  the  close  of  our  own  war  with  Great  Britain  in  1815, 
there  was  no  lack  of  town  and  popular  meetings,  or  of 
state  legislative  action  on  the  Green  having  reference  to 
commercial  interests.  The  most  famous  of  these  proceed- 
ings were  the  town  meetings  held  in  1808,  1809  and  1814, 
at  which  vigorous  resolutions  were  passed  in  condemnation 
of  the  long  embargo  and  of  the  non-importation  acts  which 
followed  it.  During  this  period  the  flourishing  maritime 
commerce  of  New  Haven  was  completely  destroyed,  and 
it  never  regained  its  previous  relative  importance.  For 
this  and  other  reasons  the  Green  has  been  since  1815  but 
little  associated  with  matters  of  foreign  trade.  The  inter- 
ests of  internal  and  domestic  commerce,  however,  which 
have  grown  to  such  magnitude  in  the  last  fifty  years, 
have  been  the  frequent  subject  of  discussion  in  our 
central  market  place.  First  in  order  came  the  proceed- 
ings relating  to  navigation  by  the  Farmington  canal. 
In  1822  a  town  meeting,  appropriately  held  on  the 
first  of  April,  enthusiastically  endorsed  the  project.  In 
1829  a  city  meeting  voted  a  stock  subscription  of  $100,000, 
and  two  years  later  another  meeting,  with  great  public 
spirit,  pledged  the  city's  credit  for  $100,000  more.  By  1845 
a  million  and  quarter  of  dollars  had  been  sunk  in  the  enter- 
prise. Reorganizations  had  converted  the  stock  into 
water,  while  leaks  and  washouts  had  dried  up  the  canal  and 
not  a  dollar  had  been  received  as  dividends  except  by  a 
stockholder  who  annually  mowed  a  piece  of  the  towpath 
and  sold  the  hay.  As  a  navigation  scheme  it  evidently 
could  not  be  floated  any  longer,  and  in  1846  a  charter  to 
lay  a  railway  along  its  bed  was  granted  by  the  legislature 
assembled  on  New  Haven  Green.  This  railway  track  was 
the  first  to  be  carried  through  the  central  part  of  the 
city,  and  as  it  followed  the  bed  of  the  canal  it  lay  below 


232  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

the  level  of  the  streets,  and  other  railroads  sub- 
sequently built  to  connect  with  it  necessarily  adopted 
the  same  plan  of  construction.  We  may  therefore  credit 
the  old  canal  with  preventing  scores  of  dangerous  grade 
crossings  in  the  heart  of  our  city,  the  expense  of  remov- 
ing which  would  have  equalled  the  amount  invested  in  it; 
and  if  to  this  be  added  the  value  of  the  experience  it 
brought  us  bearing  on  city  subscriptions  to  business  enter- 
prises, we  may  feel  on  the  whole  a  great  respect  for  its 
memory. 

The  development  of  the  New  Haven  railway  system 
between  1840  and  1860  gave  rise  to  several  public  meetings 
in  the  basement  of  the  State  House.  Some  of  them  were 
held  to  discuss  the  preservation  of  our  Naugatuck  valley 
trade  by  aiding  in  the  construction  of  a  road  to  Derby, 
which  by  some  fatuity  was  at  that  time  neglected,  to  New 
Haven's  serious  loss.  A  city  meeting  was  held  in  the  same 
place  December  2.2,  1849,  to  express  a  righteous  indigna- 
tion at  the  nefarious  course  of  the  Hartford  and  New 
Haven  Railroad  Company,  which  by  the  insidious  pur- 
chase of  a  certain  "peddler's  lot"  had  blocked  the  exten- 
sion of  the  Canal  Railroad  to  Springfield  and  thereby 
maliciously  prevented  the  diversion  of  a  large  volume  of 
business  from  its  own  line  to  that  of  its  more  popular  rival. 

The  regulation  of  the  liquor  traffic  between  1850  and 
1860  caused  many  boisterous  meetings  on  the  Green,  but 
these  were  of  a  civic  character  rather  than  in  regulation 
of  trade,  and  have  been  more  appropriately  referred  to  in 
another  paper. 


Fourth  of  July  Celebrations. 

Turning  now  to  uses  of  the  market  place  other  than 
those  connected  with  business,  we  come  to  popular  gather- 
ings and  demonstrations.  In  previous  papers  I  have 
referred  to  such  occasions  of  a  civic,  political,  educational, 
religious  or  moral  nature,  and  will  now  speak  first  of  anni- 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  233 

versary  and  other  jubilee  celebrations.      Of  these  which 
occurred  before  the  Revolution  we  have  no  reports,  and  our 
review  must  therefore  date  from  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence.    There  is  no  certainty  that  the  Fourth  of  July 
was  publicly  celebrated  in  New  Haven  for  two  or  three 
years  after  1776,  but  we  learn  from  Dr.  Stiles'  diary  that 
in  1779  such  an  observance  was  only  prevented  by  the 
British  invasion.     Since  that  time  the  anniversary,  with  but 
two  or  three  known  exceptions,  has  been  greeted  on  the 
Green  by  at  least  the  raising  of  the  national  flag,  the  ring- 
ing of  bells  and  artillery  salutes,  morning  and  evening. 
For  the  first  thirty  or  forty  years  whenever  the  day  was 
specially  observed,  there  was  generally  a  procession  to  the 
Brick  Meeting-house,  where  both  a  sermon  and  an  oration 
were  delivered,  followed  by  a  dinner  in  the  State  House  or 
tavern,  with  toasts  and  speeches  and  an  abundant  flow  of 
the  spirit  of  '76  as  well  as  of  other  kinds.     In  1798  and 
again  in  1802,  there  was  an  interesting  additional  feature, 
in  the  form  of  a  celebration  by  the  ladies  of  New  Haven 
on  their  own  account.     The  following  is  an  abridgment 
of  the  Connecticut  Journal's  report  of  the  proceedings.     "At 
five  o'clock  the  ladies  of  all  ages  met  at  the  New  Gardens 
and  drank  tea  under  a  bower  provided  for  the  occasion." 
Madame  Wooster  presided  and  the  following  toasts  were 
given:   First,  The  Spirit  of  '76;   second,  The  President  of 
the  United  States;   third,  The  Hero  in  the  Shades  of  Mt. 
Vernon;   fourth,  The  Rights  of  Woman,  may  they  be  re- 
spected by  the  men  of  all  ages;  fifth,  May  all  that  is  amiable 
in  woman  characterize  the  daughters  of  America;    sixth, 
The  worthy  ladies  of  the  late  and  present  presidents.     A 
new  patriotic  song  was  sung  by  the  ladies  and  gentlemen 
present  to  the  acclamations  of  many  hundreds  of  their  fel- 
low citizens.     The  editor  gallantly  adds:  "The  gentlemen 
who  have  been  accustomed  to  celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July 
will  recollect  with  gratitude  that  the  ladies,  fully  alive  to 
the  peace  and  honor  of  the  nation,  kindly  lent  their  aid  to 
heighten  the  splendor  of  that  glad  day  by  an  assemblage 


234  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

of  as  much  beauty,  elegance  and  patriotism  as  this  city  ever 
witnessed."  It  is  a  pity  that  this  unique  celebration  was 
at  the  foot  of  Court  street  and  not  on  the  Green,  but  it  is 
none  the  less  worthy  of  applause  and  imitation.  For  sixty- 
four  years  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  no  Fourth 
of  juiy  procession  was  deemed  complete  without  the  pres- 
ence of  at  least  one  Revolutionary  veteran,  but  this  feature 
ended  with  1850,  at  which  time  six  venerable  survivors  were 
all  that  could  be  mustered  from  New  Haven  and  the  neigh- 
boring towns.  A  sad  accident  marred  the  festivities  of  this 
occasion,  a  little  girl  being  instantly  killed  on  the  Green  in 
the  afternoon  by  the  wad  fired  from  one  of  the  cannon. 

Centennial  Celebrations. 

The  centennial  anniversary  of  Washington's  birthday  in 
1832  was  observed  with  great  eclat,  but  hardly  with  great 
unanimity.  Party  and  sectarian  feeling  then  ran  high  and 
three  celebrations  were  the  consequence.  There  was  a 
College  and  Henry  Clay  celebration  with  a  procession,  and 
an  oration  in  the  North  Church.  There  was  also  an  ortho- 
dox and  anti-Jackson  celebration  with  an  oration  at  the 
Center  Church,  and  a  dinner  at  the  Franklin  House  on  the 
corner  of  Church  and  Crown  streets.  And  thirdly,  there 
was  a  celebration  by  citizens  who  were  Jacksonian  in  poli- 
tics and  liberalists  in  religion.  These  last  named  gentle- 
men having  been  refused  the  use  of  the  Methodist  and 
Baptist  churches,  assembled  in  the  City  Hall  and  were  there 
addressed  by  a  Universalist  clergyman  ;  after  which  they 
dined  at  Washington  Hall,  where  they  toasted  Washington, 
Jackson  and  Van  Buren  and  "roasted"  intolerant  "priests," 
to  their  entire  satisfaction  and  with  great  applause. 

Another  centennial  celebration  occurred  April  25,  1838, 
that  being  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  settlement 
of  New  Haven.  Great  interest  was  felt  on  this  important 
occasion  and  it  was  observed  in  an  appropriate  and  impres- 
sive manner.  A  procession  formed  in  the  morning  at  the 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  235 

south  portico  of  the  State  House,  and  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  public  celebrations  in  this  town,  the  school 
children,  who  numbered  about  1,500,  were  admitted  to 
participate.  After  proceeding  to  the  corner  of  George  and 
College  streets,  where  the  first  settlers  landed,  and  there 
pausing  for  religious  exercises,  the  march  was  resumed, 
ending  at  the  Center  Church,  where  the  principal  observ- 
ances of  the  day  took  place.  Two  literary  features  of  this 
celebration  have  taken  a  distinguished  and  lasting  place  in 
New  Haven  letters,  the  Historical  Address  by  Professor 
Kingsley,  and  the  Forefathers'  Hymn  by  Rev.  Dr.  Bacon. 

Children's  Jubilees. 

The  pleasing  and  beneficial  practice  of  including  children 
in  public  celebrations  was  afterwards  followed  up  and 
extended.  The  first  distinctively  children's  jubilee  in  New 
Haven  was  held  July  23,  1851.  Fourteen  Sunday  schools, 
and  all  other  children  who  desired  to  join,  assembled 
on  the  Green  in  the  afternoon,  and  after  a  short  march, 
returned  to  the  Green,  where  seats  had  been  prepared  under 
the  trees  in  front  of  the  churches.  Refreshments  were 
served  from  a  table  close  by,  after  which  there  were  religious 
exercises  and  addresses  and  the  children  sang  hymns  to  the 
accompaniment  of  a  brass  band.  In  1855  was  the  first 
children's  Fourth  of  July  celebration,  which  was  arranged 
by  Professor  Jepson.  There  was  a  charming  procession 
of  juveniles,  which  displayed  emblematical  groups  and 
tableaux,  and  a  patriotic  concert  by  six  hundred  children 
on  the  north  steps  of  the  State  House.  Six  years  later, 
July  4,  1 86 1,  Professor  Jepson  organized  a  much  larger  and 
more  impressive  demonstration.  The  first  great  battle  of 
the  Civil  War  was  then  impending,  and  the  public  excite- 
ment was  intense.  Thousands  of  children  in  procession 
with  floats,  which  exhibited  the  Daughters  of  Columbia, 
the  Goddess  of  Liberty  supported  by  the  loyal  States,  and 
other  symbolical  groups,  marched  through  the  principal 


236  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

streets  to  the  north  steps  of  the  State  House,  where  they 
sang  patriotic  songs  in  chorus  to  a  vast  concourse  of 
people.  Then  followed  addresses  by  Governor  Bucking- 
ham and  other  distinguished  speakers.  Since  1861  we  have 
been  repeatedly  indebted  to  Professor  Jepson  for  similar 
beautiful  and  inspiring  demonstrations,  but  they  fall  within 
a  period  beyond  the  chronological  limits  of  this  paper. 


Atlantic  Cable  Celebration. 

Probably  the  three  most  conspicuous  and  enthusiastic 
general  celebrations  which  New  Haven  Green  ever  wit- 
nessed prior  to  1 86 1,  were  those  at  the  conclusions  of  peace, 
in  1783,  and  in  1815,  and  that  at  the  completion  of  the  first 
Atlantic  telegraph  cable  in  1858.  Of  these  the  first  two 
have  been  chronicled  in  a  previous  paper.  The  cable  cele- 
bration took  place  on  the  I7th  of  August,  1858.  It  had 
been  expected  that  the  first  messages  over  the  line,  that  of 
the  Queen  to  the  President  and  his  reply,  would  be  trans- 
mitted the  evening  previous,  and  great  preparations  had 
been  made  for  an  illumination  and  other  public  rejoicings 
as  soon  as  three  cannon  shots  on  the  Green  should 
announce  that  the  dispatch  from  the  Queen  had  been 
received.  Owing  to  difficulties  in  working  the  line,  how- 
ever, the  Queen's  message  was  not  announced  by  the  can- 
non until  half-past  one  in  the  morning.  Nevertheless,  even 
at  that  hour  the  fire  companies  turned  out  at  the  signal,  and 
collected,  with  a  large  crowd  of  citizens,  on  the  Green. 
Bonfires  were  lighted  in  Chapel  and  Church  streets,  and  the 
messages  between  the  Queen  and  the  President  were  read 
to  a  cheering  multitude  by  our  enthusiastic  fellow  citizen, 
Joseph  Sheldon,  Esq.,  in  clarion  tones,  like  the  voice  of  a 
silver  trumpet.  A  procession  was  then  formed,  abundantly 
supplied  with  drums,  horns  and  other  sleep-murdering 
devices,  which  marched  about  the  city,  calling  Mayor 
Galpin  and  other  victims  from  their  beds,  while  a  steam 
calliope  in  full  blast  effectually  helped  to  make  the  town 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  237 

cheerful  till  sunrise.  On  the  following  evening,  the  grand 
demonstration  which  had  been  planned  was  carried  out 
with  extraordinary  universality  and  enthusiasm.  One 
hundred  guns  on  the  Green  at  six  o'clock  began  the  pro- 
ceedings, and  fireworks  followed  as  soon  as  darkness  set  in. 
Enormous  crowds  covered  the  Green,  and  blocked  the 
adjacent  streets.  Every  dwelling  and  public  building 
glittered  with  illuminations,  and  transparencies  abounded 
on  every  side,  with  appropriate  emblems  and  mottoes 
galore.  East  Rock  blazed  with  bonfires;  fire  companies 
and  other  organizations  of  every  name,  with  bands  of  music, 
paraded  the  streets,  shooting  off  rockets  and  roman  candles; 
the  bells  rang  their  loudest  peals,  and  the  continuous  howl 
of  the  steam  calliope  pervaded  every  corner  of  the  city  and 
made  life  a  burden  from  Mount  Carmel  to  Long  Island. 
Possibly  the  enthusiasm  of  this  celebration  might  have 
abated  somewhat  had  it  been  known  that  the  cable  had 
"died  in  the  borning"  and  that  the  two  dispatches  which 
were  alleged  with  more  or  less  veracity  to  have  been  trans- 
mitted over  it  were  to  remain  forever  the  sum  total  of  its 
achievements.  Yet  when  we  consider  that  the  first  Atlantic 
cable,  though  a  failure,  proved  that  electric  signals  could 
be  sent  across  the  ocean,  and  thus  ensured  the  realization 
of  future  success  with  all  its  stupendous  consequences  to 
mankind,  we  must  agree  that  the  rejoicings  of  New  Haven 
were  neither  misplaced  nor  excessive. 

Mobs  and  Riots. 

With  regard  to  popular  gatherings  on  the  Green  of  a 
disorderly  and  tumultuous  character,  there  are,  happily,  few 
to  be  chronicled.  Up  to  1824,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  fights  between  students  and  town  roughs,  which,  com- 
mencing elsewhere,  boiled  over  upon  the  Green,  there  is  no 
record  of  any  riotous  demonstration  upon  it  worthy  of 
notice.  In  January,  1824,  however,  occurred  that  memor- 
able event  in  the  history  of  New  Haven  known  as  the  Medi- 


238  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

cal  College  riot.  Owing  to  the  discovery  that  the  grave 
of  a  young  lady  in  West  Haven  Cemetery  had  been  rifled, 
suspicion  turned  toward  the  Medical  College,  then  situated 
on  the  corner  of  Grove  and  Prospect  streets.  An  excited 
crowd  collected  on  the  Green,  and,  having  obtained  pos- 
session of  one  of  the  town  cannon,  advanced  upon  the  medi- 
cal building.  The  militia  were  called  out,  and  held  the 
crowd  at  bay,  while  the  building  was  searched  by  a  commit- 
tee. Soon  the  committee  reappeared,  bearing  the  muti- 
lated body,  which  had  been  found  beneath  the  pavement 
in  the  cellar.  Intense  excitement  followed,  and  only  the 
firm  front  of  the  military  prevented  the  destruction  of  the 
edifice.  The  body  was  borne  to  the  Green,  where  a  great 
procession  formed  and  attended  it  back  to  West  Haven, 
where  it  was  again  laid  to  rest.  It  was  many  years  before 
the  horror  of  this  affair  faded  out  of  the  public  mind.  One 
person  was  convicted  and  imprisoned  for  participation  in 
the  outrage,  and  a  stringent  law  was  passed  to  prevent  its 
recurrence. 

Another  occasion  on  which  a  college  building  narrowly 
escaped  destruction  at  the  hands  of  a  mob  collected  on  the 
Green  took  place  March  17,  1854.  A  fight  between  stu- 
dents and  town  boys  at  the  close  of  a  theatrical  entertain- 
ment in  the  Exchange  building  had  attracted  a  crowd  of 
roughs,  who  thronged  about  the  students  as  they  retired 
up  Chapel  street  toward  the  college.  Bricks  and  stones 
were  thrown,  and  pistols  fired.  A  rowdy  seized  a  student, 
and  was  instantly  stabbed,  falling  back  dead  among  his 
comrades.  His  body  was  carried  into  the  Glebe  building, 
while  the  students  fought  their  way  toward  the  campus. 
A  fire  alarm  was  rung,  and  the  crowd  soon  swelled  to  a 
furious  mob,  which  brought  out  a  cannon,  and  planting 
it  opposite  South  College,  proceeded  to  load  it  to  the 
muzzle  with  powder  and  missiles.  While  this  operation 
was  going  on  at  one  end  of  the  cannon,  Captain  Lyman 
Bissell  of  the  city  police  force,  at  the  other  end,  unrecog- 
nized in  the  darkness,  was  quietly  plugging  up  the  vent 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  239 

with  a  sharpened  stick,  and  before  this  obstacle  could  be 
removed  the  Mayor  arrived  with  sufficient  force  to  restore 
order.  The  student  who  used  the  dirk  was  never  identified. 
A  collision  on  the  Green  between  students  and  firemen, 
which,  however,  did  not  approach  the  dimensions  of  a  riot, 
occurred  October  30,  1841,  at  the  first  annual  review  of  the 
New  Haven  Fire  Department.  The  firemen  had  laid  a  line 
of  hose  across  the  Green,  which  was  repeatedly  interfered 
with  by  the  students,  who  were  playing  football.  A  fight 
ensued,  in  which  the  students  were  worsted.  Later  in  the 
day  the  students  interrupted  a  banquet  of  the  firemen  in  the 
basement  of  the  State  House,  and  after  a  second  conflict 
were  again  driven  off  the  Green,  The  following  night  they 
broke  into  an  engine  house  near  the  college,  and  greatly 
injured  the  apparatus,  a  proceeding  for  which  the  college 
authorities  promptly  paid  a  handsome  sum  in  damages. 

Fire  Department  Parades. 

The  annual  parades  of  the  Fire  Department  on  the 
Green,  which  began  under  the  enlivening  circumstances 
just  related,  deserve  a  more  extended  notice,  as  they  were 
for  twenty  years  among  the  most  important  and  brilliant  of 
New  Haven's  public  spectacles.  They  took  place  in  mid- 
summer or  early  Fall,  and  always  attracted  great  crowds. 
There  were  eight  fire  engines  in  the  department,  manned 
by  volunteer  companies  of  fifty  or  sixty  men  each,  besides 
hose  and  ladder  companies,  with  their  machines.  These 
all  turned  out  in  trim  uniforms,  with  decorated  engines, 
and  after  review  and  inspection  there  was  an  exhibition  of 
playing,  the  steeple  of  the  Center  Church  being  generally 
selected  for  "wetting  down."  On  July  22,  1853,  this  parade 
was  extended  in  its  scope  by  inviting  companies  from  other 
towns  and  cities  to  take  part.  A  great  procession  was  mar- 
shaled on  the  Green  and  marched  through  the  streets  in 
six  divisions,  with  twenty  brass  bands.  After  a  review  by 
the  city  authorities,  a  dinner  for  two  thousand  five  hun- 


24:0  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

dred  persons  was  served  on  the  Green  under  a  canvas 
pavilion  erected  for  the  purpose.  Then  followed  a  com- 
petitive contest  between  some  of  the  visiting  companies  for 
prizes  offered  by  the  New  Haven  Fire  Department,  in  which 
a  Providence  company  came  off  victorious.  In  September, 
1856,  this  tournament  was  repeated  on  a  larger  scale,  last- 
ing three  days.  In  the  procession  of  the  second  day,  forty 
companies  paraded,  including  one  from  Chicago.  There 
were  seven  divisions  and  the  line  contained  thirty-eight 
engines  and  two  thousand  five  hundred  men.  In  the 
afternoon  twenty-five  of  the  visiting  companies  competed 
for  prizes.  The  liberty  pole  was  pieced  out  to  a  height  of 
two  hundred  feet  and  the  engines  played  upon  it  succes- 
sively through  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  of  hose.  A 
Stamford  company  won  the  first  prize  of  $500  by  throwing 
a  stream  upon  the  pole  to  the  height  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty-three  feet.  The  New  Haven  companies  did  not  com- 
pete with  their  guests,  but  the  proud  fact  is  recorded  that 
on  the  following  day  they  put  their  own  machine  to  work 
and  threw  a  stream  to  the  height  of  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
five  feet,  thus  easily  beating  the  victors.  These  annual 
exhibitions  came  to  an  end  in  1861,  when  the  volunteer 
companies  with  their  hand  machines  were  disbanded  and  a 
paid  department  with  steam  fire  engines  took  their  place. 

The  Green  as  a  Play-ground. 

It  only  remains  to  speak  of  the  use  of  the  Green  as  a 
play-ground;  a  use  which  as  respects  most  market  places 
is  merely  incidental,  but  which  in  the  case  of  the  Green  was 
recognized  as  a  legitimate  right  for  two  hundred  and  twenty 
years.  The  first  recorded  reference  to  such  use  was  in  1645, 
when  it  was  provided  that  "the  soldiers  after  their  military 
exercises  were  over  might  'play  at  stole-bale,  quoits,  nine 
pins  and  such  like  games,' "  and  with  a  view  to  enhance 
their  enjoyment  of  these  recreations  it  was  further  requested 
that  one  of  the  elders  should  be  present  to  discourse  to 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  241 

them  on  some  improving  topic.  As  there  was  a  public  or 
a  private  school  nearly  continuously  on  the  Green  for  more 
than  two  centuries,  its  use  as  a  play-ground  by  the  boys 
during  all  that  period  was  equally  continuous,  and  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  that  they  availed  themselves  of  it  for 
that  purpose  for  all  it  was  worth.  This  theory  is  confirmed 
by  a  vote  of  the  town  passed  January  27,  1827:  "It  being 
propounded  that  ye  boys  playing  in  the  market  place  is 
mischevious,  for  by  that  means  the  meeting-house  windows 
are  shamefully  broken,  for  the  preservation  whereof  it  is 
Resolved  by  this  town  that  for  the  future  ye  boys  shall  not 
be  allowed  to  play  in  ye  market  place  within  twenty  rods  of 
ye  meeting-house  on  ye  penalty  of  twelve  pounds  for  every 
such  offense  and  all  damages  that  shall  by  them  at  any  time 
be  done  to  ye  meeting-house.  Voted  in  the  affirmative." 
Probably  the  town  authorities  had  little  better  success  in 
enforcing  this  ordinance  than  they  had  in  suppressing  the 
irreverent  hilarity  of  boys  inside  the  meeting-house  on 
Sundays,  perhaps  the  most  prolific  subject  of  legislation  to 
be  found  in  the  town  records.  How  many  windows  of  the 
meeting-house  and  other  public  buildings  were  "shamefully 
broken"  by  accident  in  two  hundred  years  cannot  be  easily 
estimated,  but  there  was  at  least  one  case  in  which  such 
damage  was  done  with  panes-taking  deliberation.  This  was 
on  a  Saturday  night  in  1835,  when  the  town  was  suddenly 
aroused  from  its  slumbers  by  a  tremendous  explosion,  and 
the  next  morning  it  was  discovered  that  a  heavily-loaded 
cannon  had  been  discharged  by  some  vivacious  students  in 
College  street  directly  opposite  the  State  House,  whereby 
that  unoffending  edifice  had  been  deprived  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty-five  panes  of  glass  at  one  fell  swoop.  Breaking 
the  meeting-house  windows,  however,  was  not  the  only 
manner  in  which  schoolboys  utilized  the  sanctuary  for  pur- 
poses of  amusement.  In  1825,  John  Beers,  a  pupil  of  the 
Lancasterian  School,  which  was  then  kept  in  the  basement 
of  the  Methodist  Church,  on  two  successive  days  climbed 
the  lightning  rod  of  the  Center  Church  steeple  and  seated 

16 


242  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

himself  on  the  weathercock.  This  exploit  of  course  turned 
the  thoughts  of  all  the  other  boys  to  aspire  with  a  similar 
vane  ambition,  and  the  attempts  to  imitate  it  became  so 
numerous  that  the  church  committee  bent  and  spiked  the 
rod  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  a  repetition  of  the  feat, 
wisely  reflecting  that  sparing  the  rod  might  result  in  spoil- 
ing a  boy.  Those  of  my  auditors  who  were  New  Haven 
boys  fifty  or  more  years  ago  will  recall  youthful  pranks 
without  number  connected  with  the  churches,  the  State 
House  and  the  tall  grass  which  then  grew  to  be  from  twelve 
to  eighteen  inches  high,  and  the  sports  which  were  then 
habitually  played  by  boys  in  companies  on  the  Green — 
games  like  "come  away,"  "snap  the  whip,"  and  others  now 
apparently  obsolete  among  the  youth  of  New  Haven.  The 
use  of  the  State  House  hill  for  coasting  purposes  has  ceased 
so  recently  that  it  seems  superfluous  to  refer  to  it,  and 
yet  there  are  thousands  living  in  New  Haven  to-day  who 
never  saw  the  State  House  hill,  and  could  not  correctly 
locate  its  position.  The  infrequent  skating  ponds  on  the 
lower  Green  occasionally  collect  the  juveniles  for  sport  as 
in  the  olden  time,  and  supply  the  last  surviving  example  of 
the  use  of  the  market  place  as  a  schoolboy's  play-ground. 


College  Athletics  on  the  Green. 

When  we  come  to  the  use  of  the  Green  as  a  play-ground 
for  the  students  of  Yale  College,  we  approach  the  grand 
and  inspiring  theme  of  college  athletics  and  prepare  to 
unfold  the  origin  and  trace  the  progress  of  the  present  pros- 
perity and  glory  of  Yale.  Unfortunately,  however,  the 
chapter  which  treats  of  this  subject  during  the  period  cov- 
ered by  these  chronicles  must  be  one  of  disappointment 
and  humiliation.  The  cause  is  found  in  the  influence  of 
two  absurd  theories  which  then  prevailed  and  which  post- 
poned the  rise  of  genuine  athletics  for  at  least  a  century. 
The  first  of  these  radical  misconceptions  was  that  the  prin- 
cipal purpose  of  college  athletics  should  be  physical  exercise 


AS    A    MARKET    PLACE.  243 

as  a  means  of  bodily  invigoration,  to  be  cultivated  by  all 
students  alike  and  especially  by  those  of  deficient  strength 
or  delicate  constitution.  The  second  error  was  that  the 
chief  end  of  games  and  sports  in  an  educational  institution 
should  be  recreation  and  exercise  and  not  to  gain  glory  or 
make  money.  It  was  not  then  understood  that  genuine 
college  athletics  consist  in  the  artificial  training  of  a  dozen 
or  two  selected  giants  to  endure  the  tremendous  rush  and 
strain  of  a  few  minutes'  desperate  struggle  with  a  rival  team 
of  Samsons  once  or  twice  a  year  in  a  public  exhibition  for 
gate  money;  in  excluding  or  discouraging  from  organized 
college  games  all  students  who  by  reason  of  inferior  vigor 
most  need  to  practice  them;  and  that  the  only  use  to  which 
the  great  body  of  students  can  be  put  as  participants  in  the 
public  contests  is  that  of  encouraging  their  champions  and 
disconcerting  their  opponents  by  cheering  and  jeering  in 
the  right  places.  As  a  consequence  of  these  lamentable 
mistakes  of  our  ancestors,  it  follows  that  we  find  in  those 
benighted  times  no  records  of  glorious  victories  gained  or 
disastrous  defeats  by  college  teams  on  land  or  water  accom- 
panied by  lists  of  contestants  killed,  crippled  or  permanently 
injured  by  collisions,  overstraining  or  exhaustion.  There 
is  also  an  utter  absence  from  the  newspapers  of  that  period 
of  daily  bulletins  such  as  now  edify  the  public  for  weeks  be- 
fore every  important  athletic  contest,  containing  sweet-faced 
portraits  of  the  demigods  who  are  to  take  part,  together 
with  minute  details  relating  to  their  size,  weight  and  bodily 
condition,  and  current  quotations  of  the  betting  market, 
and  also  the  cheering  intelligence  that  "big  money  is  being 
put  up  by  the  sons  of  Eli  for  the  honor  of  Old  Yale."  It 
also  resulted  from  those  mistaken  views  that  the  games 
and  pastimes  which  were  then  in  vogue  were  of  a  crude, 
juvenile  and  unscientific  character.  The  rowing  clubs  in 
their  simplicity  made  use  of  boats  so  clumsy  in  their  build 
that  they  were  not  liable  to  capsize  or  founder  if  taken  out- 
side of  a  mill  pond;  and  so  little  did  they  understand  the 
art  of  rowing  that  in  their  practice  and  racing  contests  they 


2M  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN   GREEN. 

actually  wore  a  few  shreds  of  clothing.  Football  and  hand- 
ball were  played  simply  for  recreation  and  not  with  the  sole 
view  of  scoring  points;  hence  there  was  an  entire  neglect  of 
subtle  and  secret  tricks  to  be  sprung  on  an  unsuspecting 
adversary.  They  were  so  primitive  also  that  the  players 
did  not  need  to  be  encased  in  steel  cages  or  enveloped  with 
cotton  bales;  nor  did  they  ever  prepare  for  the  games  by 
running  about  the  streets  in  gangs  for  weeks  in  advance, 
clad  in  the  graceful  costumes  of  Feejee  Islanders. 

In  fact,  so  little  importance  was  attached  for  the  first 
hundred  years  of  Yale  College  to  the  sublime  study  of 
"college  athletics,"  that  we  have  no  information  what  sports 
were  commonly  practiced  by  the  students,  though  we  know 
by  tradition  that  the  Green  was  used  by  them  as  their  regu- 
lar play-ground.  A  picture  of  the  Green  made  just  before 
1800  shows  a  number  of  students  near  the  corner  of  Chapel 
and  College  streets  apparently  playing  football,  and  a  pic- 
ture of  the  college  buildings  under  date  of  1807  contains  a 
group  unquestionably  engaged  in  that  pastime.  Wicket 
and  quoits  were  also  played  on  the  Green  between  1820  and 
1840,  but  not  later.  After  1840  football  came  again  into 
prominence,  and  was  played  daily  at  the  noon  hour  by 
kicking  the  ball  promiscuously  back  and  forth,  everybody 
joining  in  who  chose  to.  On  Wednesday  and  Saturday 
afternoons  impromptu  games  between  sides  would  often 
be  arranged,  a  hundred  or  more  players  taking  part. 
Between  1840  and  1854  there  was  nearly  every  year  a  grand 
annual  contest  between  the  Freshman  and  Sophomore 
classes,  in  a  series  of  three  test  games,  all  played  on  the  same 
afternoon.  These  rough  and  tumble  scrambles  took  place 
on  the  upper  Green,  the  upper  classes  and  sometimes  repre- 
sentatives of  the  fair  sex  being  collected  on  the  south  por- 
tico of  the  State  House,  as  spectators.  They  came  to  an 
end  in  1854,  by  edict  of  the  faculty,  ostensibly  on  account 
of  their  roughness,  but  really  because  complaint  was  begin- 
ning to  be  made  of  the  inconvenience  which  they  caused  to 
the  public.  This  inconvenience  had,  in  fact,  begun  to 


AS   A   MARKET   PLACE.  245 

attract  attention  several  years  previously.  In  1848,  when 
the  Methodist  Church  was  removed  from  the  Green,  a 
vote  was  passed  in  city  meeting  that  that  part  of  the  Green 
"should  never  be  occupied  by  the  students  of  any  institu- 
tion or  any  other  individuals  as  a  play-ground."  In  the 
same  year  the  Common  Council  appointed  a  committee  to 
confer  with  the  college  authorities  for  the  suppression  of 
football  playing  on  the  Green  altogether,  but  the  faculty 
objected  so  strenuously  that  the  movement  was  not  pursued. 
Ten  years  later,  however,  the  blow  could  no  longer  be 
averted,  and  in  February,  1858,  a  city  by-law  was  passed 
which  forbade  not  only  the  playing  of  football  but  of  all 
other  athletic  games  in  the  streets  and  squares  of  the  city. 
By  this  ordinance  the  record  of  the  Green  as  a  public  play- 
ground for  the  practice  of  games  or  sports  was  brought  to 
a  final  and  abrupt  conclusion. 

The  Passing  of  the  Market  Place. 

After  the  courts  and  city  offices  were  removed  to  the  new 
city  hall  in  1861,  there  were  left  to  the  Green  but  few  of 
the  features  which  had  belonged  to  it  in  its  ancient  charac- 
ter as  a  market  place.  The  town  and  city  meetings  indeed 
continued  to  be  held  for  several  years  longer  in  the  damp, 
dingy  and  malodorous  apartment  in  the  basement  of  the 
State  House  which  was  dignified  with  the  appellation  "the 
Town  Hall,"  and  the  legislature  sat  biennially  in  the  upper 
story  of  the  same  building  until  1876.  When  these  honors 
also  departed,  the  last  of  the  functions  ceased  which  had 
marked  the  Green  as  the  center  of  New  Haven's  business 
and  political  activities.  In  the  evolution  of  the  town  from 
a  rural  village  to  a  bustling  city,  the  market  place  had 
become  transformed  into  a  simple  public  square,  and  while 
in  this  capacity  it  still  continues  to  be  the  arena  for  public 
gatherings  and  displays,  it  has  also  taken  on  a  new  charac- 
ter, that  of  a  resting  and  breathing  place  for  the  people. 
Never  until  a  very  recent  period  has  it  shown  in  its  daily 


246  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

appearance  the  spectacle  which  it  now  exhibits  on  summer 
afternoons,  when  its  verdant  lawns  are  sprinkled  with  little 
children  and  their  watchers,  and  all  the  seats  beneath  its 
spreading  trees  are  filled  with  refugees  from  stifling  streets 
and  crowded  tenements,  who  come  to  the  Green  as  the  only 
retreat  where  they  can  enjoy  the  blessings  of  air  and  space 
and  restful  quiet.  If  former  generations  commended  the 
forethought  of  our  ancestors  in  reserving  an  area  so  ample 
for  the  public  uses  of  a  straggling  hamlet,  how  should  we 
rejoice  that  they  left  such  liberal  space  for.  recreation  and 
repose  in  the  center  of  a  teeming  population!  It  is  true 
that  as  the  city  has  expanded  far  beyond  their  anticipations, 
the  Green  as  its  only  park  has  become  insufficient  for  its 
needs.  But  when  we  go  back  in  imagination  to  1638  and 
picture  to  ourselves  the  cramped  market  places  of  even  the 
largest  European  cities  as  they  then  existed,  and  when  we 
further  consider  how  few  American  towns  which  were 
founded  within  two  hundred  years  after  New  Haven's  set- 
tlement can  show  an  original  central  square  or  common 
at  all  approaching  the  dimensions  of  our  ancient  Green, 
we  cannot  fail  to  honor  the  broad  views  and  the  sagacious 
foresight  which  actuated  the  settlers  of  New  Haven  in  set- 
ting apart  one-ninth  of  their  entire  town  plot  for  public  use 
as  a  market  place. 


VIII. 
THE  GREEN  AS  A  PLACE  OF  BURIAL. 

The  selection  of  the  market  place  by  the  New  Haven 
settlers  as  a  place  of  burial  was  somewhat  anomalous. 
Possibly  the  example  of  Boston  in  making  a  similar  use  of 
a  part  of  its  Common  may  have  had  an  influence.  After 
the  meeting-house  had  been  located  on  the  Green,  the  use 
of  the  surrounding  ground  for  burial  purposes,  according 
to  the  custom  in  the  mother  country,  would  naturally  be 
adopted,  but  in  fact,  the  graveyard  was  begun  before  the 
meeting-house.  The  first  burial  at  Quinnipiac,  however,  was 
not  on  the  Green.  One  of  the  pioneers  who  passed  the 
winter  of  1637-8  in  caves  or  cellars  on  the  bank  of  the 
creek  near  George  street,  died  before  the  main  body  of  the 
settlers  arrived,  and  his  bones  were  found  in  1750  while 
digging  the  cellar  of  the  stone  house  which  is  still  stand- 
ing at  the  junction  of  George  and  Meadow  streets.  At 
least  two  other  persons  died  in  New  Haven  before  the  first 
meeting-house  was  finished,  as  appears  by  orders  of  the 
court  in  1640  for  settling  their  estates.  These  persons 
were  probably  interred  in  the  market  place,  for  if  any  other 
burial  ground  had  been  then  selected,  its  use  would  be 
likely  to  have  been  continued.  After  this,  the  records  show 
deaths  occurring  until  1665  in  numbers  from  one  to  five  a 
year.  By  1659,  there  must  have  been  about  fifty  graves 
in  the  market  place,  and  the  unwisdom  of  using  it  as  a 
place  of  common  interment  was  already  beginning  to  sug- 
gest itself.  Governor  Newman  was  apparently  the  first  to 
foresee  the  dangers  to  arise  in  the  future  from  an  expanded 
and  overcrowded  graveyard  in  the  center  of  the  town. 
"The  Governor,"  says  the  record  of  May,  1659,  "informed 
that  it  is  conceived  that  it  is  not  for  ye  health  that  ye  bury- 
ing place  should  be  where  it  is;  therefore,  he  propounded 


248  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN   GREEN. 

that  some  other  place  might  be  thought  of  and  fenced  in 
for  that  purpose.  Severall  places  were  nominated,  but  not 
determined,  but  left  with  ye  townsmen  to  consider  off." 
The  sanitary  suggestion  was  one  in  advance  of  the  age, 
and  the  governor's  recommendations  fell  on  stony  ground. 
He  died  in  the  following  year,  and  was  buried  in  the  market 
place,  and  no  further  remonstrance  appears  to  have  been 
interposed  against  interments  on  the  Green  for  several 
generations. 

Early  Plans  for  Improvement. 

After  1670,  the  area  of  the  graveyard  was  considerably 
enlarged  by  the  removal  of  the  first  meeting-house,  which 
had  stood  in  the  center  of  the  square,  and  the  placing  of 
its  successor  some  rods  further  east.  The  growing  popu- 
lation of  the  cemetery  caused  it  also  to  extend  irregularly 
in  all  directions,  so  that  it  must  have  become  a  thorough- 
fare and  a  lounging  place  for  the  throngs  which  resorted 
to  the  meeting-house  for  the  performance  of  civic  or  relig- 
ious duties,  or  gathered  about  the  whipping  post  for  recrea- 
tion and  entertainment.  Under  these  circumstances  it  is 
not  surprising  that  in  the  course  of  time  the  public  taste, 
if  not  the  public  conscience,  was  awakened  to  the  propriety 
of  protecting  the  burial  ground  from  unseemly  desecra- 
tions. In  December,  1683,  Captain  Mansfield,  on  behalf 
of  the  selectmen,  "moved  that  ye  burying  place  might  be 
fenced  about  and  kept  in  a  comly  manner;  they  thought 
about  twenty  rods  square.  Ye  motion  was  debated  and 
ye  town  did  desyer  ye  townsmen  would  take  it  into  further 
consideration  how  much  to  fence  and  in  what  manner,  and 
then  to  be  further  spoken  of  into  another  meeting." 

Nothing  came  of  the  movement  at  that  time,  but  seven 
years  later,  in  November,  1690,  it  was  "voted  that  ye  towns- 
men consider  of  fencing  of  ye  burying  place;  how  it  may 
be  done  by  wood  or  stone,  and  what  will  be  ye  best  way  of 
doing  it,  in  what  forme  and  how  much  ground  and  quantity 


AS   A   BURIAL   PLACE.  249 

of  fence  and  have  them  return  to  ye  next  town  meeting 
or  as  soon  as  may  be."  At  the  next  town  meeting,  Decem- 
ber 29,  1690,  the  committee  reported  that,  "having  viewed 
ye  burying  place  they  think  ye  best  way  of  fencing  it  for 
comlines  or  safety  from  creatures  rooting  up  ye  ground 
will  be  by  a  stone  wall  ditched  without  by  earth  cast  up 
within;  this  way  judged  most  durable  with  least  charge. 
But  ye  towne  by  show  vote,  ordered  it  to  be  ffenced  with 
a  stone  wall  only,  in  an  ovall  fforme;  and  yt  ye  townsmen 
take  care  of  ye  doing  it  by  suitable  hand  at  ye  towne's 
charge  as  soon  as  may  be."  Notwithstanding  this  formal 
and  explicit  vote,  no  enclosure  of  the  burial  place  was  then 
made.  In  the  next  generation  the  crowded  condition  of 
the  ground,  and  perhaps  the  increasing  difficulty  of  provid- 
ing contiguous  places  of  interment  for  members  of  the 
same  families,  suggested  the  opening  of  a  supplemental 
burial  ground  where  lots  or  graves  should  be  furnished  to 
persons  willing  to  pay  for  special  accommodations;  at  least 
such  appears  to  be  the  significance  of  the  following  vote, 
adopted  in  town  meeting,  December,  1728:  "Voted,  that 
the  lot  called  the  town  lot  fronting  upon  the  market  place 
be  improved  for  a  burying  place  during  the  town's  pleasure; 
and  the  annual  rents  of  said  lot  be  for  the  use  of  the  gram- 
mar school  as  heretofore."  The  lot  here  referred  to  was 
the  lot  on  Church  street,  where  the  City  Hall  and  Court 
House  now  stand.  It  is  not  quite  clear  exactly  what 
scheme  of  investment  for  the  benefit  of  the  grammar  school 
was  contemplated  by  this  vote.  It  seems  likely,  however, 
that  under  any  details  of  arrangement  a  leased  burying 
ground  must  soon  have  become  very  dead  property,  and 
such  seems  to  have  been  the  public  conclusion,  for  the  vote 
was  never  carried  out,  and  thus  the  grammar  school  was 
saved  from  being  metaphorically  buried  in  its  own  grave- 
yard, and  the  lot  was  preserved  for  a  future  generation  to 
be  used  as  a  place  for  the  living  to  lie  in  instead  of  the 
dead. 


250  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

The  Burial  Ground  Fenced. 

In  the  meantime,  burials  were  continued  in  the  old 
ground,  and  this  was  becoming  not  only  more  and  more 
crowded  with  permanent  occupants,  but,  as  we  learn  from 
repeated  town  votes  on  record,  it  was  also  a  common 
thoroughfare  for  bipeds  feathered  and  unfeathered,  and  for 
quadrupeds  of  grazing  and  rooting  and  burrowing  propen- 
sities, and  a  nursery  for  unsightly  and  maladorous  weeds 
and  barberry  bushes,  so  that  its  condition  and  appearance 
were,  to  say  the  least,  discreditable.  At  last,  in  1762,  the 
Proprietors'  Committee,  aroused  to  the  need  of  some 
prompt  and  energetic  steps  for  ending  the  public  disgrace, 
assembled  and  passed  a  vigorous  vote,  "granting  liberty  to 
fence  in  the  burying  place,"  and  furthermore  appointed  "a 
committee  to  join  with  a  committee  of  the  town  to  settle 
and  appoint  the  place  of  the  fence,  and  the  kind  of  fence, 
without  cost  to  the  proprietors."  This  public-spirited 
action  by  the  proprietors  awakened  a  responsive  enthusi- 
asm in  the  breast  of  the  town  to  do  something  handsome 
for  the  long-neglected  graveyard.  Accordingly,  at  the 
next  town  meeting,  it  was  voted  with  a  rush,  "that  Col. 
John  Hubbard,  Mr.  Darling,  Mr.  John  Whiting,  Mr.  Joshua 
Chandler  and  Samuel  Bishop  be  a  committee  to  joyne  with 
a  committee  appointed  by  ye  Proprs.  of  common  and 
undivided  lands  to  settle  and  affix  ye  place  where  the  bury- 
ing ground  shall  be  fenced  in  and  see  how  and  what  man- 
ner they  can  fence  in  the  same,  without  cost  to  the  town." 
In  view  of  such  an  overwhelming  public  determination  that 
the  burying  ground  should  be  immediately  fenced  without 
cost  to  anybody,  it  is  not  surprising  to  learn  from  the  diary 
of  Manasses  Cutler  that  three  years  later  it  was  still  unin- 
closed. 

Nevertheless,  by  1775,  the  fence  had  become  in  some 
mysterious  way  an  accomplished  fact,  for  it  is  shown  in  Dr. 
Stiles'  map  of  that  year.  It  was  a  plain  board  fence  painted 
red,  and  by  confining  the  burial  ground  to  a  limited  area  its 
effect  must  have  been  to  increase  its  already  crowded  condi- 


AS   A    BURIAL   PLACE.  251 

tion.  That  repeated  interments  were  made  in  the  same 
spots  was  made  evident  in  excavating  for  the  foundation 
of  the  Dixwell  monument  in  1849,  when  the  remains  of 
sixteen  persons  were  found  in  a  space  of  twelve  feet  square 
within  two  feet  of  the  surface. 


A  New  Burial  Ground  Established. 

When,  after  the  Revolution,  New  Haven  entered  on  a 
new  career  with  a  city  charter  and  a  population  of  over 
three  thousand  within  the  city  limits,  it  is  probable  that  the 
discontinuance  of  the  old  burying  ground  was  contemplated 
as  one  of  the  municipal  improvements,  for  by  a  provision 
in  the  first  city  charter  the  city  was  authorized  to  sell  or 
exchange  the  western  half  of  the  public  square  if  it  should 
see  fit  to  do  so.  No  steps  were  taken,  however,  to  exercise 
this  power,  and  burials  continued  to  be  made  on  the  Green, 
in  increasing  numbers,  especially  during  the  pestilential 
years  of  1794  and  1795.  In  those  dismal  years,  midnight 
burials  were  not  uncommon,  and  forty  years  ago  it  was 
one  of  the  reminiscences  of  an  aged  lady,  whose  residence 
in  early  life  had  been  opposite  the  Green,  that  she  had  been 
occasionally  wakened  by  the  glare  of  the  torches  through 
her  open  window  and  had  listened  to  the  solemn  tones  of 
Rev.  Bela  Hubbard  as  he  read  the  burial  service  over  the 
grave. 

Probably  the  experience  of  those  years  served  to  impress 
more  forcibly  on  the  public  mind  the  necessity  of  providing 
a  new  burial  place,  and  it  was  fortunate  for  New  Haven 
that  it  contained  a  citizen  with  the  wisdom  to  plan  and 
the  energy  to  accomplish  the  reform  in  a  broad  and  original 
manner.  In  September,  1796,  Mr.  James  Hillhouse,  with 
the  cooperation  of  thirty  others,  purchased  six  acres  (soon 
after  increased  to  ten),  on  Grove  street,  then  in  the  out- 
skirts of  the  town,  for  the  purpose,  as  they  announced  in 
their  prospectus,  of  "a  new  burial  ground,  larger,  better 
arranged  for  the  accommodation  of  families,  and  by  its 


252  CHRONICLES   OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

retired  situation  better  calculated  to  impress  the  mind  with 
a  solemnity  becoming  the  repository  of  the  dead."  This 
is  said  to  have  been  the  first  public  cemetery  in  the  world 
which  was  laid  out  in  family  lots.  Pere  la  Chaise  in 
Paris,  which  was  among  the  first  of  modern  European 
cemeteries,  was  not  opened  till  1804.  President  D wight, 
writing  of  the  Grove  street  grounds  in  1810,  said:  "It  is 
believed  this  cemetery  is  altogether  a  singularity  in  the 
world.  I  have  accompanied  many  Americans  and  many 
foreigners  into  it,  not  one  of  whom  had  ever  seen  or  heard 
of  anything  of  a  similar  nature."  The  projectors  were 
organized  as  a  Burial  Ground  Association  in  October,  1797, 
and  this  was  probably  the  first  private  association  ever 
incorporated  for  burial  purposes.  It  was  thus  the  pioneer 
of  those  similar  enterprises  which  have  since  attained  such 
countless  numbers,  and  in  many  cases  such  magnificent 
proportions,  throughout  the  civilized  world.  The  first 
interment  in  the  new  cemetery  was  fhat  of  Mrs.  Martha 
Townsend  in  1797.  From  that  date  the  burials  on  the 
Green  were  few,  and  they  ceased  almost  entirely  after  1800. 
The  last  person  buried  there  was  Mrs.  Martha  Whittlesey, 
who  was  laid  beside  her  husband,  the  Rev.  Chauncey 
Whittlesey,  in  1812.  Her  tombstone  stands  in  the  crypt 
of  the  Center  Church. 

Though  this  was  the  last  burial  on  the  Green,  there  were 
two  subsequent  re-interments  there  which  should  be 
noticed.  Soon  after  the  completion  of  Trinity  Church,  and 
probably  in  1816,  the  remains  of  Bishop  Jarvis,  who  died 
in  1813,  and  was  buried  in  the  Grove  street  Cemetery,  were 
exhumed  and  deposited  beneath  the  chancel  of  the  church, 
where  they  still  remain.  His  tombstone  bears  the  simple 
inscription:  "Abraham  Jarvis,"  but  a  tablet  to  his  memory 
in  the  church  above  records  the  interest  he  had  felt  in  the 
building  of  the  edifice,  which  he  was  not  permitted  to 
behold.  The  other  re-interment  was  in  1849,  wnen  tne  few 
remaining  relics  of  Dixwell,  the  regicide,  were  collected  and 
placed  under  his  present  monument,  an  incident  which  will 
be  more  particularly  referred  to  hereafter. 


AS   A   BURIAL   PLACE.  253 


The  Old  Burial  Ground  Abandoned. 

In  December,  1812,  the  burial  ground  on  the  Green 
having  been  practically  abandoned  for  several  years,  a  town 
meeting  voted  "to  license  the  First  Ecclesiastical  Society 
to  build  a  new  brick  meeting-house  and  to  extend  the  walls 
as  far  westwardly  as  their  convenience  may  require;  pro- 
vided this  license  do  not  vary  the  rights  of  individuals." 
This  proviso  clearly  related  to  questions  that  might  arise 
out  of  the  disturbance  of  graves,  and  left  it  to  the  Ecclesias- 
tical Society  to  take  their  own  risks  in  that  connection.  It 
soon  became  publicly  known  that  the  new  meeting-house 
would  stand  at  right  angles  to  the  position  of  the  old  one, 
so  that  a  considerable  part  of  the  graveyard  must  inevitably 
be  encroached  upon.  Upon  this  discovery  an  excited 
opposition  was  at  once  developed.  A  public  meeting  was 
held  at  the  County  House,  in  March,  1813,  at  which  a  pro- 
test was  adopted,  signed  by  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight 
subscribers,  and  resolutions  passed  vigorously  denouncing 
the  proposed  location  of  the  building.  The  construction 
was  nevertheless  commenced,  but  when  the  workmen 
began  to  excavate  the  trenches,  a  number  of  persons  assem- 
bled with  shovels  and  began  to  throw  back  the  earth  as  fast 
as  it  was  thrown  out.  The  opposition  was,  however,  with- 
out leadership  or  general  support,  and  as  the  remains  which 
were  found  were  carefully  preserved,  and  removed  to  the 
new  cemetery,  it  was  soon  withdrawn.  No  cellar  was  dug 
for  the  church,  but  that  part  of  the  yard  was  simply  enclosed 
by  the  foundation  walls,  so  that  the  floor  of  the  present 
crypt  indicates  the  level  of  the  original  surface. 

No  interments,  whatever,  were  made  on  the  Green  after 
1812,  and  all  care  of  the  burying  ground  was  neglected 
thereafter.  The  result  was  that  it  soon  became  foul  and 
unsightly,  overgrown  with  weeds,  and  owing  to  the  dilapi- 
dation of  the  fence,  it  was  systematically  invaded  by  tres- 
passers, human  and  brute.  By  October,  1820,  its  condition 
had  become  so  disgraceful  that  the  Common  Council  of  the 


254  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

city  appointed  a  committee  "to  inquire  and  report  whether 
the  ancient  burying  ground  should  be  enclosed  or  some 
other  course  be  adopted  to  evince  respect  for  the  dead,  and 
the  feelings  of  the  survivors."  The  committee  in  due  time 
reported  that  the  ground  was  "in  a  condition  of  total 
neglect  and  going  to  ruin  in  a  manner  inconsistent  with  the 
religious  and  moral  sense  of  the  community,  and  indicating 
a  want  of  decent  respect  for  the  memory  of  the  dead." 
The  committee  thought  that  a  permanent  wall  around  it 
would  be  most  suitable  but  too  expensive;  and  on  the 
whole,  recommended  a  removal  of  the  monuments  to  the 
new  burying  ground  at  the  expense  of  the  city.  They  also 
recommended  that  a  marble  monument  with  a  suitable 
inscription  be  placed  on  the  rear  wall  of  the  Center  Church, 
and  that  the  city  purchase  a  tract  in  the  new  cemetery  for 
public  use.  These  recommendations  were  adopted  by  the 
Common  Council  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  carry 
them  into  effect. 

Removal  of  the  Monuments. 

On  June  26,  1821,  the  removal  of  the  monuments  was 
commenced.  The  exercises  began  with  a  public  religious 
service  in  the  Center  Church,  and  a  funeral  address.  After 
the  service,  the  committee  of  the  Common  Council,  accom- 
panied by  the  President  and  officers  of  Yale  College,  com- 
menced the  removal  by  conveying  the  monuments  of 
officers  and  students  of  the  college  to  the  new  cemetery. 
All  the  other  monuments  were  then  removed  day  by  day 
till  the  work  was  completed,  and  the  ground  was  afterward 
leveled  by  filling  to  the  proper  grade.  A  memorial  tablet 
was  subsequently  placed  on  the  rear  wall  of  the  Center 
Church,  and  also  tablets  in  the  vestibule  of  the  church, 
giving  the  names  of  those  whose  monuments  remained 
beneath  the  building.  The  whole  expense  of  the  proceed- 
ing, which  amounted  to  $1,289.38,  was  paid  by  the  city. 

It  appears  from  the  committee's  report  that  the  number 
of  monuments  removed  was  eight  hundred,  and  the  num- 


AS   A   BURIAL   PLACE.  255 

ber  left  beneath  the  church  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven. 
It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  many  stones  had  been 
previously  removed  as  family  memorials  by  persons  owning 
lots  in  the  new  cemetery.  It  is  also  traditional  that  for 
more  than  half  a  century  the  ground  had  been  drawn  upon 
for  flat  stones  to  be  used  in  building  and  other  purposes, 
and  that  South  Middle  College  in  particular  (which  is  still 
standing)  was  largely  indebted  to  the  neighboring  grave- 
yard for  its  hearthstones  and  backs  of  fire-places.  As  oven 
floors,  the  slate  tombstones  were  said  to  be  exceedingly 
convenient,  and  the  bread  of  a  certain  baker  was  always 
known  by  the  trademark  of  a  cherub's  head  or  fragment  of 
an  epitaph  on  the  bottoms  of  the  loaves.  I  am  informed 
by  Mr.  Trowbridge  that  in  digging  a  trench  in  Temple 
street  for  a  water  pipe  to  the  Center  Church  a  few  years 
ago,  not  only  numerous  bones,  but  also  fragments  of  tomb- 
stones, were  found  lying  underground  on  the  original  sur- 
face, evidently  broken  stones  not  sufficiently  complete  to 
be  carried  away  at  the  general  removal.  There  must  there- 
fore have  been  at  least  one  thousand  tombstones  within 
the  limits  of  the  graveyard  in  1800,  and  while  it  is  of  course 
impossible  to  compute  with  any  accuracy  how  many  bodies 
were  buried  within  that  portion  of  the  Green  during  the 
one  hundred  and  sixty  years  that  it  was  in  use  for  that  pur- 
pose, a  conservative  estimate  would  fix  the  number  as 
between  four  and  five  thousand.  As  no  bodies  were  dis- 
interred when  the  monuments  were  removed  and  very  few 
previous  to  that  time,  the  greater  part  of  this  subterranean 
population  still  rests  beneath  the  surface  of  the  Green.  Yet 
not  entirely,  for  by  the  subtle  action  of  chemical  agencies 
the  elements  of  their  material  frames  are  continually  pass- 
ing from  the  soil  into  the  turf  and  overshadowing  boughs 
which  give  pleasure  and  comfort  to  the  living.  And  in 
like  manner  their  names,  virtues  and  achievements  are 
being  drawn  from  the  dust  of  oblivion  to  gladden  the  hearts 
of  the  present  generation  by  filling  its  family  trees  with 
illustrious  ancestors,  forefathers,  foremothers  and  fore — 
bears. 


256  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 


Ghosts  in  the  Old  Burial  Ground. 

While  referring  to  the  occupants  of  the  old  burial  ground, 
we  must  not  forget  those  disembodied  spirits  with  which 
the  popular  imagination  peoples  every  dwelling  place  of 
the  dead  and  whose  spectral  forms  are  supposed  to  occa- 
sionally rise  from  yawning  graves  "to  revisit  the  pale 
glimpses  of  the  moon,  making  night  hideous."  In  view  of 
the  crowded  condition  of  the  graveyard  on  the  Green  and 
the  promiscuous  way  in  which  its  tenants  were  thrown 
together,  it  would  not  have  been  surprising  if  an  occasional 
restless  ghost  had  broken  out  of  its  uncomfortable  quar- 
ters to  disturb  the  serenity  of  belated  travelers.  The  only 
genuine  ghost  story  on  record,  however,  connected  with 
the  Green,  relates  to  a  spook  which,  so  far  from  evincing 
repugnance  to  the  mortuary  accommodations  there  pro- 
vided, actually  displayed  a  premature  eagerness  to  occupy 
them.  The  story  comes  from  no  less  an  authority  than  the 
first  President  Dwight,  and  is  contained  in  a  published 
decision  which  he  rendered  in  a  debate  by  the  Senior  class 
of  Yale  College  on  the  question,  "Do  Spectres  Appear?" 
I  will  give  it  in  substantially  the  President's  own  words. 

"A  respectable  inhabitant  of  this  town  whom  I  personally 
knew,  and  who  was  of  unquestionable  veracity  as  well  of 
remarkable  moderation,  related  the  following  incident:  At 
the  age  of  sixteen,  while  an  apprentice  to  his  father,  who 
was  a  blacksmith,  he  was  going  home  from  a  friend's  house 
at  about  two  o'clock  at  night,  when  he  saw  a  person  walk- 
ing at  no  great  distance  before  him.  He  supposed  it  to 
be  a  fellow  apprentice'  with  whom  he  was  on  terms  of  inti- 
macy and  warm  friendship,  and  walked  fast  to  overtake 
him,  making  as  little  noise  as  possible,  intending  to  take 
him  by  surprise.  They  were  but  a  little  distance  from  the 
old  burying  ground  on  the  Green  as  he  drew  near,  and  the 
course  taken  by  the  young  man  was  by  one  of  the  paths 
leading  into  it.  He  soon  overtook  him  and  suddenly 


AS    A    BURIAL    PLACE.  257 

extending  his  arm  endeavored  to  clasp  him  around  the 
body;  but  to  his  surprise  he  did  not  arrest  his  progress 
nor  appear  to  attract  his  notice,  nor  was  he  sensible  of  feel- 
ing anything  in  his  grasp.  Still,  he  was  not  alarmed,  but 
felt  so  confident  that  the  young  man  was  his  friend  that  he 
continued  to  pursue  him  until  he  proceeded  to  a  spot  in 
the  burying  ground  where  he  stopped  and  speedily  van- 
ished. He  thought  the  occurrence  so  extraordinary  that 
he  determined  to  mark  the  spot,  and  gathering  a  few  bones, 
brush,  and  stones  together,  made  a  little  heap  and  pro- 
ceeded homeward. 

"He  went  to  his  room  and  retired  to  bed;  after  which 
he  learnt  from  some  of  the  family  that  his  fellow  apprentice 
was  sick.  His  disease,  which  was  the  pleurisy,  soon  termi- 
nated his  life.  When  the  sexton  went  to  the  graveyard 
some  of  the  friends  who  accompanied  him  to  determine  the 
spot  where  the  grave  should  be  made,  without  any  knowl- 
edge of  the  story  of  the  apparition,  chose  the  place  where 
it  had  disappeared,  so  that  the  first  thing  the  sexton  did 
was  to  clear  away  with  his  spade  the  little  heap  by  which  it 
had  been  distinguished.  These  details  I  had  from  a  gentle- 
man who  received  them  from  the  surviving  apprentice. 
The  evidence  is  strong  that  he  told  the  truth,  and  there  is 
nothing  that  I  know  of  to  contradict  it.  It  is  true  that 
the  time  was  night,  but  the  moon  was  bright  and  objects 
at  a  short  distance  were  almost  as  distinctly  visible  as  by 
day."  The  Doctor  adds:  "There  was  indeed  no  important 
end  to  be  accomplished  by  the  apparition  so  far  as  we  can 
see  unless  that  of  producing  useful  impressions  on  the  mind 
of  the  young  man;"  and  it  must  be  agreed  that  young 
gentlemen  who  are  in  the  habit  of  going  home  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  and  who  under  such  circumstances 
are  not  in  the  least  disconcerted  at  finding  themselves 
embracing  a  ghost,  are  generally  fit  subjects  for  useful  moral 
lessons.  It  might  be  added  that  they  are  not  unlikely  to 
remember  next  morning  remarkable  visions  for  which 
spirits  are  chiefly  responsible. 
17 


258  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

Another  ghost  story  connected  with  the  old  burial 
ground  on  the  Green  concerns  a  party  of  convivial  students, 
who  were  wending  their  way  across  it  one  moonlight  night 
just  as  the  clock  struck  twelve.  Moved  by  a  sudden 
impulse  born  of  Dutch  courage,  one  of  the  party  mounted 
a  flat  tablet  monument  and  called  three  times  in  loud  and 
solemn  tones,  "Arise,  ye  dead,  and  come  to  judgment!" 
Scarcely  had  the  third  summons  rung  out  on  the  midnight 
air  when  a  white  figure  rose  from  among  the  graves  and 
rushed  toward  the  speaker  with  a  wild,  unearthly  shriek, 
"Yes,  Lord,  I'm  coming!"  The  time  occupied  by  the  stu- 
dents in  getting  out  of  the  burial  ground  and  into  the 
college  buildings  was  not  carefully  taken,  but  it  is  positively 
known  that  in  brevity  it  broke  the  world's  record  for  the 
same  distance;  while  the  poor,  demented  creature  who  had 
been  roused  from  her  sleep  among  the  tombstones,  after 
vainly  pursuing  the  supposed  celestial  messenger  for  a 
while,  returned  to  her  resting  place  greatly  disconcerted  at 
his  sudden  disappearance  and  the  prompt  withdrawal  of  his 
invitation. 


The  "Regicides'   Tombstones:' 

In  the  general  removal  of  monuments  which  took  place 
in  1821,  three  were  left  undisturbed — the  E.  W.  stone,  dated 
1657-8;  the  M.  G.  stone,  marked  '80,  and  the  I.  D.  tomb- 
stone of  1689.  They  were  all  left  for  the  same  reason,  each 
being  supposed  to  mark  a  regicide's  grave.  The  I.  D. 
stone  was  unquestionably  authentic,  as  the  memorial  of 
John  Dixwell,  and  in  1847  some  descendants  of  Dixwell, 
living  in  Boston,  addressed  the  city  authorities  of  New 
Haven,  proposing  to  erect  a  suitable  monument  over  his 
grave  and  to  enclose  it  with  an  iron  railing  if  the  city  would 
protect  it  and  keep  it  in  repair.  After  obtaining  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Proprietors'  Committee,  the  proposal  was 
accepted  at  a  city  meeting  held  December  14,  1847;  and 
on  November  21,  1849,  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  the 


AS    A    BURIAL    PLACE.  259 

remains  were  exhumed.  The  skeleton  was  found  fairly 
well  preserved  within  the  mouldered  coffin,  and  the  bones, 
having  been  carefully  collected  in  a  suitable  casket,  were 
re-interred,  after  which  the  present  monument,  with  the 
original  tombstone  by  its  side,  was  erected  above  them. 

After  this  memorial  work  was  accomplished,  some  criti- 
cism was  bestowed  on  the  supervising  committee  because 
they  had  made  no  provision  for  preserving  the  other  two 
stones,  supposed  to  belong  to  Whalley  and  Goffe,  in  the 
immediate  vicinity.  These  objections  called  forth  the 
explanation  that  the  committee,  after  careful  inquiry,  had 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  stones  marked  E.  W.  and 
M.  G.  were  not  regicide  memorials,  but  the  gravestones 
of  Edward  Wigglesworth  and  Matthew  Gilbert.  As  this 
subject  has  been  much  discussed  since  that  time,  and  as  it 
concerns  so  nearly  the  historic  dignity  of  our  ancient  Green, 
it  is  worth  while  to  summarize  the  leading  considerations 
on  both  sides  of  the  question. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  Whalley  died  in  Hadley 
about  1674  or  1675,  and  Goffe  is  supposed  to  have 
died  in  Hartford  about  1680.  It  is  extremely  improbable 
that  the  body  of  either  would  have  been  brought  to  New 
Haven,  at  considerable  trouble  and  cost,  as  a  mere  matter 
of  sentiment,  and  therefore  the  presumption  is  strongly 
against  the  claim  that  these  regicides  are  buried  here.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  arguments  in  support  of  the  Wiggles- 
worth  and  Gilbert  theory  are  far  from  convincing.  In  the 
first  place,  it  seems  unlikely  that  monuments  of  personages 
so  prominent  in  the  community  should  have  been  inscribed 
with  the  mere  initials  of  their  names.  There  are  but  four 
tombstones  now  existing  which  are  so  inscribed,  and  these 
are  all  of  dates  prior  to  1700.  One  of  them  is  for  a  child 
nine  years  old;  one  of  them  for  a  child  less  than  two  years 
old;  one  of  them,  besides  the  initials,  has  an  unintelligible 
inscription,  apparently  for  an  infant;  and  the  fourth  is  the 
I.  D.  stone  placed  over  Dixwell's  grave.  Concerning  this 
last  one  we  learn  from  Dr.  Stiles  that  it  was  marked  with 


260  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

initials  only  at  Dixwell's  own  request  in  order  to  promote 
obscurity,  "lest  his  enemies  might  dishonor  his  ashes." 
From  this  it  appears  that  such  abbreviated  designation  on 
a  tombstone  was  unusual  and  indicated  a  person  little 
known.  No  such  reason  for  mere  initials,  however,  exists 
in  the  cases  of  Wigglesworth  and  Gilbert.  The  first  was 
one  of  the  original  settlers.  He  was  above  the  average  in 
point  of  property,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  had  a  son  in 
the  ministry.  The  other  had  been  from  the  beginning  of 
the  colony  one  of  its  most  prominent  men;  he  was  one  of 
the  original  seven  pillars,  a  magistrate  and  deputy  gover- 
nor, and  was  possessed  of  a  handsome  estate.  The  insig- 
nificance of  these  stones  in  itself  strongly  discredits  the 
view  that  they  mark  the  graves  of  Wigglesworth  and 
Gilbert,  but  that  theory  also  encounters  other  and  more 
serious  objections. 

Wigglesworth  died  in  1653,  and  on  both  his  headstone 
and  footstone  appears  the  same  date  as  originally  cut,  1658. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  this  was  the  original  date,  and  it  is 
inconceivable  that  there  can  have  been  a  mistake  of  five 
years  on  a  tombstone  which  must  have  been  put  up  within 
a  very  few  months  after  his  death.  On  the  footstone,  the 
figure  5  in  1658  shows  a  figure.  7  so  annexed  to  it  that 
the  date  may  be  read  1658  or  1678,  though  it  is  evident 
that  the  5  was  the  original  figure.  It  has  been  suggested 
that  this  alteration  has  been  surreptitiously  made  in  order 
to  support  the  claim  that  Whalley  was  buried  there.  But 
Whalley  died  in  1674,  not  1678,  besides  which  such  an 
alteration  in  only  one  of  the  stones  would  be  futile,  the 
other  remaining  unchanged.  But  apart  from  these  con- 
siderations there  is  convincing  evidence  that  the  alteration 
was  not  made  for  any  such  fraudulent  purpose.  The  ques- 
tion whether  the  stones  belonged  to  Wigglesworth  or 
Whalley  had  never  been  put  in  issue  till  Dr.  Stiles  raised 
it  in  1794,  and  the  sketch  of  the  tombstones  given  in  his 
book  shows  the  mutilated  date  as  having  precisely  the 
same  appearance  then  as  now.  That  it  could  not  have 


262  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

character  as  regicides'  stones  as  unquestioned  fact.  Theo- 
dore Dwight's  "History  of  Connecticut,"  written  in  1841, 
made  the  same  statement  with  regard  to  the  E.  W.  stone 
and  raised  no  question  as  to  the  other.  And  neither  Prof. 
Kingsley  nor  Dr.  Bacon,  in  their  historical  discourses  of 
1838  and  1839,  expressed  any  doubt  as  to  the  correct- 
ness of  the  popular  belief,  as  they  would  have  been 
likely  to  do  had  that  seemed  to  require  refutation. 
In  fact,  I  find  no  intimation  anywhere  that  Whalley  and 
Goffe  were  not  in  undisturbed  occupation  of  the  E.  W. 
and  M.  G.  graves  for  more  than  fifty  years,  until  the  icono- 
clastic committee  on  the  Dixwell  monument  suddenly 
ousted  them  from  possession  in  1849. 

As  we  are  now  called  upon  to  review  the  action  of  the 
committee,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  possession  is  nine 
points  of  the  law,  and  that  no  occupant  of  real  estate  under 
a  claim  of  right  can  be  legally  dispossessed  except  by  some 
claimant  who  can  prove  a  superior  title  in  himself  to  the 
premises.  From  this  point  of  view  it  must  be  conceded 
that  Messrs.  Gilbert  and  Wigglesworth,  plaintiffs  in  1849, 
hardly  made  out  a  sufficient  case  in  their  own  favor  to 
justify  the  ejectment  of  Messrs.  Goffe  and  Whalley,  defend- 
ants. On  the  other  hand,  it  appears  from  all  the  evidence 
in  the  case  that  neither  party  is  able  to  establish  a  clear 
original  title,  and  the  most  equitable  verdict  would  be  that 
they  should  compromise  on  a  joint  possession  until  a 
better  owner  than  either  appears.  Let  such  be  the  judg- 
ment recorded.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  when,  in 
time  to  come,  your  children  shall  ask  you,  saying,  "What 
mean  these  stones?"  then  shall  ye  answer  them:  "These  be 
the  tombstones  that  mark  the  graves  of  Gilbert  Goffe  and 
Wigglesworth  Whalley." 

Now  that  these  venerable  tombstones  are  under  consid- 
eration, let  me  take  this  opportunity  to  suggest  the  early 
removal  of  the  M.  G.  stone  from  its  present  exposed  situa- 
tion to  a  place  inside  the  iron  fence  which,  through  the 
wise  and  timely  action  of  our  present  president,  was  erected 


AS   A   BURIAL   PLACE.  263 

several  years  ago,  so  as  to  enclose  the  E.  W.  stone  at  the 
rear  of  the  Center  Church.  Apart  from  its  interest  as  a 
subject  of  antiquarian  discussion,  it  should  be  protected 
as  an  undoubted  relic  of  early  colonial  times.  By  a  com- 
parison of  its  present  appearance  with  the  sketch  made  of 
it  by  President  Stiles  in  1793,  it  seems  not  yet  to  have  been 
materially  injured,  but  continued  neglect  may  result  in  its 
complete  destruction.* 

Governor  Eaton's  Monument. 

Among  the  monuments  removed  to  the  new  cemetery 
there  was  one  of  special  interest,  that  over  the  grave  of 
Governor  Theophilus  Eaton.  In  May,  1658,  just  after 
Governor  Eaton's  death,  the  General  Court  of  the  colony 
adopted  the  following  order: 

"The  Court  calling  to  mind  the  good  service  done  to  this 
colony  by  our  late  honoured  Governour,  did  order  that  a 
comely  tombe  such  as  we  are  capable  of  shall  be  made 
over  his  grave,  and  that  the  estate  he  left  behind  him  shall 
be  free  from  rates  this  year  to  the  jurisdiction." 

Three  years  later,  in  May,  1661,  "there  was  something 
propounded  about  the  engraving  of  Gov.  Eaton's  tomb, 
which  was  agreed  to  be  left  to  ye  Gouvenour,  Deputy 
Gouvenour  and  New  Haven  Court  with  the  advise  of  ye 
elders  of  New  Haven."  How  much  of  this  "comely  tombe" 
remained  to  be  transferred  to  the  Grove  Street  Cemetery 
is  uncertain.  The  two  stone  blocks  or  pillars  which  sup- 
port the  tablet  now  in  the  cemetery,  are  probably  part  of 
it,  though  they  have  been  squared  and  trimmed  into  modern 
spruceness,  but  the  monument,  if  not  of  modern  manufac- 
ture, has  certainly  been  redressed  and  re-cut,  and  as  the 
inscription  on  it  differs  from  that  given  by  Barber  in  1836, 
the  re-cutting  must  have  been  since  that  date.  Probably 
the  original  tablet,  which  was  engraved  in  1661,  was  not 
in  existence  when  the  monument  was  removed  from  the 

*See  Note  3. 


264  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

Green,  for  the  reason  that  the  one  so  removed  contained 
the  epitaphs  of  Governor  Jones  and  his  wife,  who  died  in 
1706  and  1707,  and  also  two  poetical  effusions  which  are 
traditionally  ascribed  to  Rev.  Mr.  Pierpont,  and  which  cer- 
tainly sound  more  like  tombstone  literature  of  1707  than 
that  of  1 66 1.  The  first  of  these  effusions  is  the  well-knpwn 
tribute  to  Eaton: 

Eaton  so  f aimed,  so  wise,  so  just. 

The  phoenix  of  our  world  here  hides  his  dust, 

This  name  forget,  N.  England  never  must. 

In  the  second,  which  relates  to  Governor  Jones  and  wife, 
the  muse  takes  on  a  much  humbler  strain: 

T'  attend  you,  sir,  beneath  these  framed  stones 
Are  come  your  honoured  son  and  daughter  Jones 
On  each  hand  to  repose  their  weary  bones. 

Unless  the  Jones  epitaph  was  cut  into  the  original  Eaton 
stone  after  Mrs.  Jones's  death,  a  new  tablet  must  have  been 
supplied  at  that  time,  but  what  the  fact  may  be  it  is  now 
impossible  to  say.  I  have  not  been  able  to  learn  of  any 
reference  to  the  triplet  on  Eaton  before  the  time  of  Mr. 
Pierpont. 


Public  Funerals  in  New  Haven. 

It  appears  by  the  records  that  the  colony  not  only  fur- 
nished the  "comely  tombe"  to  Governor  Eaton's  memory, 
but  that  his  funeral  also  was  at  the  public  charge.  His 
successor,  Governor  Newman,  also  died  in  office,  in  1661, 
and  it  was  voted  that  "ye  charges  of  his  funerall  be  borne 
by  ye  jurisdiction,  as  Governour  Eaton's  was."  No  monu- 
ment, however,  was  voted  to  his  memory,  and  no  such 
memorial  is  now  in  existence.  In  1706,  on  the  death  of 
Deputy  Governor  William  Jones,  the  General  Assembly  of 
Connecticut,  then  sitting  in  New  Haven,  voted  that  "in 
consideration  of  his  many  good  services,  the  charges  of  his 
funeral  be  paid  out  of  the  public  treasury."  These  three 


AS    A    BURIAL    PLACE.  265 

honorary  funerals  at  public  charges  are  the  only  instances 
of  the  kind  in  New  Haven,  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  until 
the  public  funeral  of  Admiral  Foote  at  the  cost  of  the  city, 
July  i,  1863.  At  the  death  of  Roger  Sherman,  July  23, 
1793,  he  being  at  the  time  mayor  of  the  city  and  United 
States  senator,  appropriate  resolutions  were  adopted  by 
the  Common  Council,  and  the  entire  city  government 
attended  his  funeral,  together  with  a  great  concourse  of 
other  public  officials,  officers  and  students  of  Yale  College 
and  private  citizens,  but  the  obsequies  were  not  at  the 
public  charge.  Funeral  ceremonies,  however,  in  honor  of 
distinguished  public  men,  not  residents  of  New  Haven, 
have  been  repeatedly  conducted  on  the  Green  by  city 
authority.  When  Washington  died,  in  December,  1799, 
honorary  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  Common  Coun- 
cil and  minute  guns  fired  by  their  order.  After  the  death 
of  Adams  and  Jefferson,  July  4,  1826,  the  Common  Council 
passed  resolutions  and  ordered  the  bells  to  be  tolled  and 
minute  guns  fired  on  the  Green  for  one  hour,  from  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening.  Similar  observances  followed  the 
death  of  General  Lafayette,  in  1834,  and  by  request  of  the 
Common  Council  a  funeral  oration  in  his  honor  was 
delivered  by  Hon.  James  Hillhouse  at  the  ensuing  com- 
mencement in  August.  Seven  years  later,  when  President 
Harrison  died,  there  were  elaborate  ceremonies,  compris- 
ing a  military  and  civic  procession,  with  a  funeral  sermon 
by  Rev.  Dr.  Bacon.  A  more  ambitious  display  attended 
the  obsequies  of  President  Taylor,  July  24,  1850,  in  which 
a  gorgeous  catafalque  followed  by  a  white  horse  bearing 
an  empty  saddle  were  conspicuous  features.  At  the  Cen- 
ter Church  a  funeral  oration  was  delivered  by  Hon.  E.  K. 
Foster. 

On  June  21,  1861,  occurred  the  funeral  of  the  first  son 
of  New  Haven  who  fell  in  the  civil  war.  On  that  day  the 
body  of  Major  Theodore  Winthrop  was  received  at  the  rail- 
road station  on  Chapel  street  and  borne,  to  the  sound  of 
minute  guns  and  tolling  bells,  to  its  last  resting-place  in 


266  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

Grove  street  cemetery.  It  was  followed  by  a  large  military 
and  civic  escort,  including  the  Mayor  and  Common  Council 
of  the  city,  after  which  the  procession  returned  to  the  Green 
and  was  there  dismissed.  Two  years  later,  June  30,  1863, 
the  public  funeral  of  another  New  Haven  hero,  Admiral 
Foote,  was  conducted  under  the  direction  and  at  the 
expense  of  the  city  on  a  scale  of  impressive  dignity  and 
extent.  The  body  having  been  publicly  viewed  for  several 
hours  at  the  State  House,  was  conveyed  to  the  Center 
Church,  which  was  heavily  draped,  and  there  services  were 
held,  with  a  funeral  address  by  Rev.  Dr.  Bacon.  It  was 
then  attended  to  the  cemetery  by  an  immense  procession 
composed  of  national  and  state  officials,  military  and  naval 
officers,  midshipmen  and  marines,  with  large  bodies  of 
federal  and  state  troops,  followed  by  members  of  the  city 
government  of  New  Haven  and  other  cities,  officers  and 
students  of  Yale  College,  members  of  the  different  profes- 
sions, and  numerous  benevolent  and  other  associations. 
The  public  obsequies  for  Presidents  Lincoln  and  Garfield 
were  of  a  memorable  character,  but  belong  to  a  period  not 
covered  by  these  chronicles. 

Ancient  Funeral  Customs. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  compare  the  details  of  this 
public  funeral  with  those  which  marked  that  of  Governor 
Eaton,  two  hundred  and  five  years  previously.  No  par- 
ticulars of  these  observances,  however,  have  come  down 
to  us  and  we  can  only  infer  them  by  recalling  the  funeral 
customs  of  that  period.  In  early  colonial  days,  owing  to 
the  prejudice  against  prayers  for  the  dead,  there  were  no 
religious  services  connected  with  the  interment.  Lechford, 
who  wrote  of  New  England  customs  before  1700,  says: 
"At  burials  nothing  is  read  nor  any  funeral  sermon  made, 
but  all  the  neighborhood  or  a  goodly  company  of  them 
come  together  by  the  tolling  of  the  bell  and  carry  the  dead 
solemnly  to  his  grave  and  then  stand  by  him  while  he  is 


AS   A   BURIAL   PLACE.  267 

buried.  The  ministers  are  most  commonly  present." 
The  procession  was  entirely  on  foot,  headed  by  the  men, 
who  walked  in  couples,  the  women  following  in  similar 
order.  In  the  center  was  the  bier,  sometimes  called  "the 
herse,"  which  was  a  plain  platform  with  handles,  carried 
by  bearers  and  left  at  the  grave  or  elsewhere  in  the  burial 
ground  after  the  funeral.  In  New  Haven  apparently  no 
pall  was  used  to  cover  the  coffin  until  December,  1715, 
when  Mr.  Jonathan  Atwater  offered  "to  ye  town  a  cloath 
to  be  servisable  at  funeralls  to  be  kept  at  house  of  Ensign 
Isaac  Dickerman  and  when  upon  any  occasion  feched  from 
said  house  to  be  carefully  returned  thither."  A  wheeled 
hearse  was  not  used  till  1794,  when  one  was  built  by  private 
subscription  and  also  a  house  to  keep  it  in.  Many  of  our 
older  residents  well  remember  this  building  with  its  somber 
contents,  standing  on  the  corner  of  Grove  and  Prospect 
streets  just  outside  of  the  cemetery  fence.  The  hearse 
was  maintained  by  the  city  and  "a  hearse  leader"  annually 
chosen  by  the  Common  Council  until  1841,  when  both 
hearse  and  house  were  .sold  to  West  Haven  for  the  sum  of 
$25. 

Prior  to  1700  the  funeral  sermon,  if  any,  was  preached 
on  the  Sunday  following  the  interment.  After  1725,  when 
the  Episcopal  burial  service  began  to  be  occasionally  used, 
the  practice  of  preaching  and  praying  at  funerals  gained 
ground.  The  genial  custom  of  supplying  unlimited  liquors 
at  funerals  dates  back  to  the  earliest  colonial  times,  and 
was  doubtless  a  survival  of  the  funeral  feasts  of  our  ances- 
tors. For  many  years  spirituous  beverages  were  furnished 
freely  to  all  comers  and  the  liquor  bill  was  often  one  of 
the  heaviest  charges  against  the  estate.  Probably  these 
sympathetic  potations  were  imbibed  theoretically  with  a 
view  to  drowning  sorrow  and  enabling  the  mourning  com- 
pany to  bear  up  firmly  under  the  burden  of  their  grief; 
but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that,  practically,  quite  a  con- 
trary effect  was  sometimes  produced.  In  October,  1694, 
the  town  voted  as  follows:  Whereas,  some  inconvenience 


268  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

is  observed  in  ye  use  of  rum  or  strong  drinks  at  funerals, 
the  town  recommend  to  ye  inhabitants  yt  may  from  tyme 
to  tyme  be  conserned,  yt  they  would  use  their  liberty  or 
prudence  in  laying  downe  ye  custome  for  ye  future,  only 
as  there  may  be  need  of  refreshing  in  a  privat  way  for 
psons  living  remote."  This  delicate  suggestion  had  little 
effect,  however,  and  the  practice  was  not  entirely  discon- 
tinued until  after  1830,  though,  in  later  years,  the  refresh- 
ment was  furnished  "  in  a  private  way"  to  the  bearers  only. 

Mourning  rings  for  the  minister  and  family  friends  seem 
never  to  have  been  much  in  vogue  in  New  Haven.* 

Linen  scarfs,  each  of  sufficient  size  to  make  a  shirt,  were 
usually  furnished  to  the  minister  and  bearers  until  after 
1820.  The  last  instance  that  I  have  been  able  to  identify 
was  at  the  funeral  of  Eli  Whitney  in  1825.  The  supply  of 
gloves  for  bearers,  which  still  survives,  was  an  early  colonial 
custom.  In  several  of  the  ancient  graves  which  have  been 
disturbed  on  the  Green  a  considerable  number  of  thorns 
two  or  three  inches  in  length  have  been  found,  which  were 
probably  used  for  fastening  the  winding  sheet  instead  of 
pins,f  which  during  the  Revolution  became  exceedingly 
expensive. 

Before  the  days  of  professional  undertakers,  it  was  cus- 
tomary for  neighbors  to  prepare  the  grave  clothes  when  a 
death  was  expected,  and  it  is  said  that  in  1804  some  excel- 
lent ladies  sat  up  half  the  night  to  finish  a  shroud  for  John 
C.  Calhoun,  then  a  student  in  Yale  College,  regardless  of 
Dr.  Dwight's  prediction  that  he  was  destined  to  become 
the  president  of  the  United  States. 

Bell-tolling  at  funerals  was  for  nearly  two  hundred  years 
considered  an  essential  feature  of  respectable  obsequies,  and 
a  public  bell  ringer  performed  that  function  at  a  rate  of 
compensation  annually  fixed  by  the  authorities.  In  April, 
1830,  the  Medical  Association  of  New  Haven,  in  that  spirit 
of  modesty  which  prompts  them  to  discourage  all  forms 
of  professional  advertising,  presented  a  petition  to  the  Com- 

*  See  Note  4.  f  See  Note  5. 


AS    A    BURIAL    PLACE.  269 

mon  Council  requesting  that  the  tolling  of  bells  at  funerals 
might  be  prohibited  by  city  ordinance.  No  official  action 
was  taken  at  that  time,  but  the  practice  began  to  decline, 
and  when,  two  years  afterwards,  the  office  of  public  bell 
ringer  was  abrogated,  the  custom  soon  came  to  an  end. 


The  Medical  Profession  in  New  Haven. 

Although  the  history  of  a  burial  ground  cannot  properly 
be  said  to  include,  like  that  of  other  inhabited  places,  an 
account  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  its  population,  yet  it 
would  hardly  be  complete  without  reference  to  the  health 
and  mortality  records  of  the  community  where  it  is  located. 
And  just  as  a  review  of  the  courts  and  jurisprudence  of  New 
Haven  involved  some  account  of  the  lawyers  who  furnished 
the  tribunals  with  business,  so  the  chronicles  of  its  grave- 
yard suggest  allusion  to  the  local  physicians  of  whose  faith- 
ful labors  it  is  a  perpetual  reminder.  For  the  first  hundred 
and  fifty  years  of  the  town,  while  medical  science  was  crude, 
and  the  medical  profession  undeveloped  and  unorganized, 
the  burial  place  on  the  Green  sufficed  for  the  public  needs; 
but  after  the  Connecticut  Medical  Society  was  established, 
in  1792,  attention  was  quickly  drawn  to  the  growing  neces- 
sity of  a  new  and  larger  cemetery,  and  since  that  time  the 
growth  of  our  burial  accommodations  has  about  kept  pace 
with  the  numerical  increase  of  the  doctors. 

The  first  generation  of  New  Haveners  was  afflicted  with 
malarial  fevers  which,  in  default  of  judicious  medical  treat- 
ment, were  the  principal  cause  of  graveyard  repletion. 
During  this  period,  that  is  to  say  till  about  1670,  the  prin- 
cipal reliance  of  the  people  for  medical  advice  was  a  Mr. 
Augur,  who  practised  the  healing  art  in  the  intervals  of 
his  other  business.  From  the  avidity  with  which  the  com- 
munity welcomed  rival  practitioners  to  town,  it  would 
appear  that  Mr.  Augur's  abilities  were  not  rated  very 
highly.  In  1651  a  real  doctor,  who  had  studied  in  France 
and  had  a  certificate  from  a  learned  university,  appeared 


270  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

in  New  Haven,  and  after  Mr.  Davenport  had  examined  his 
credentials  and  pronounced  them  satisfactory,  the  General 
Court  invited  him  to  remain  and  provided  him  with  a  fur- 
nished house.  Three  months  later  the  town  was  in  a  panic 
on  account  of  his  exorbitant  charges,  and  the  magistrates 
and  elders  jointly  labored  with  him  in  an  attempt  "to  settle 
a  more  moderate  price  for  his  visits."  Apparently  the 
effort  was  unsuccessful,  for  a  few  months  later  the  town 
voted  him  "liberty  to  go  as  he  had  opportunity."  If  his 
opportunity  depended  on  his  ability  to  collect  his  bills,  it 
is  to  be  feared  that  he  waited  for  it  in  vain  and  finally  made 
a  premature  departure,  for  the  records  show  that  even 
cheap  Mr.  Augur  repeatedly  complained  to  the  court  that 
he  could  not  obtain  his  pay  for  either  visits  or  medicines. 

In  1655  the  malarial  scourge  was  especially  severe,  and 
in  this  year  Mr.  John  Winthrop,  Jr.  (afterward  Governor 
of  Connecticut)  took  up  his  abode  in  New  Haven,  being 
specially  welcomed  on  account  of  his  reputed  medical  skill. 
Probably  the  public  confidence  was  heightened  by  the 
knowledge  that  he  had  in  his  possession  "a  sovereign 
remedy  for  curing  agues,"  which  had  been  sent  him  from 
London  by  Sir  Kenelm  Digby,  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Society  and  a  noted  savant  of  the  day.  As  these  disorders 
are  not  entirely  extinct  in  New  Haven,  it  may  be  worth 
while  to  restore  the  prescription  to  the  modern  materia 
medica.  It  is  as  follows:  "Pare  the  patient's  nayles  when 
the  fitt  is  coming  on  and  put  the  parings  into  a  little  bagge 
of  fine  linen  or  sarsnett  and  tye  that  about  a  live  eele's 
neck  in  a  tubbe  of  water.  The  eele  will  dye  and  the  patient 
will  recover.  And  if  a  dogge  or  a  hogge  eat  that  eele  they 
will  also  dye." 

Doubtless  this  antidote  was  highly  successful  as  a  con- 
venient and  expeditious  means  of  exterminating  superflu- 
ous dogs,  hogs  and  eels,  but  its  efficacy  in  expelling  malaria 
from  the  human  system  seems  not  to  have  equaled  the 
public  requirements.  Certain  it  is  that  in  1658  Mr.  Win- 
throp betook  himself  elsewhere,  leaving  Mr.  Augur  alone 


AS    A    BURIAL    PLACE.  271 

in  the  field  to  fight  the  pestilence.  This  he  did  in  the  old- 
fashioned  way,  and  when  he  found  a  patient  at  death's  door 
he  rarely  failed  to  pull  him  through.  But,  alas!  for  the 
gratitude  of  his  beneficiaries.  In  1660  Mr.  Augur 
announced  to  the  town  meeting  "that  his  stock  of  physic 
was  gone  and  how  to  procure  more  he  saw  not,  being  dis- 
abled by  the  non-payment  of  some  and  the  unsuitable  pay- 
ment of  others."  In  response  to  this  moving  appeal  the 
meeting,  which  was,  no  doubt,  largely  composed  of  his 
delinquent  debtors,  passed  a  vigorous  resolution  to  the 
effect  that  those  who  owed  Mr.  Augur  ought  to  pay  up, 
and  advised  him  to  bring  some  of  them  into  court.  He 
does  not  appear  to  have  done  so,  however,  and  unless  his 
experience  differed  from  that  of  his  successors  in  the  heal- 
ing art  in  New  Haven,  he  was  obliged  to  wait  for  the  pay- 
ment of  most  of  his  bills  until  the  settlement  of  his  patients' 
estates,  having  this  advantage,  however,  in  common  with 
his  later  professional  brethren,  that  it  was  always  in  his 
power  to  accelerate  the  time  of  such  final  adjustment. 

After  Mr.  Winthrop's  departure,  Mr.  Augur  appears  to 
have  had  sole  charge  of  the  health  of  New  Haven  till  his 
death  by  shipwreck  in  1676.  The  town  then  remained 
destitute  of  a  physician  till  1688,  when  by  invitation  of  the 
town  Dr.  Williams  came  here  from  Hartford,  but  how  long 
he  remained  or  when  he  died  is  unknown. 

Brown's  map  of  1724  shows  the  dwelling  of  "W.  Mather 
Physician,"  and  Wadsworth's  map  of  1748  indicates  that 
three  "Physicians"  at  that  date  were  living  here,  "Tim 
Mix,  Jno.  Hubbard  ancTTl.  Hubbard,"  and  about  the  year 
1770  the  names  of  Dr.  John  Rhode  and  Dr.  Bonticou 
appear  as  local  practitioners.  A  medical  profession  had 
now  begun  to  develop,  and  in  1783  the  New  Haven 
County  Medical  Society  was  organized  with  61  members, 
among  them  Dr.  Eneas  Monson,  Dr.  Levi  Ives,  Dr. 
Leverett  Hubbard  and  Dr.  Ebenezer  Beardsley,  names 
which  even  after  the  lapse  of  a  hundred  years  have  still  a 
familiar  sound  in  New  Haven.  This  association  was 


272  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

merged  into  the  Connecticut  Medical  Association  in  1792, 
and  in  1803  a  new  local  society  was  created  which  still 
exists  as  the  New  Haven  Medical  Association.  After  that 
date  the  Green  was  practically  abandoned  as  a  place  of 
burial;  and  as  it  does  not  concern  these  chronicles  to  follow 
the  medical  profession  into  later  fields  of  usefulness,  we  will 
now  turn  our  attention  briefly  to  the  mortuary  statistics 
and  health  conditions  of  New  Haven  during  the  period 
when  the  old  burying  ground  was  in  use. 


Vital  Statistics  of  New  Haven. 

Until  after  the  beginning  of  this  century  no  records  of 
mortality  were  kept  in  New  Haven,  though  in  1795  and 
afterwards  the  local  newspapers  published  lists  of  the  deaths 
during  each  preceding  year.  In  1811  Dr.  Dwight  col- 
lected the  first  vital  statistics  of  a  general  historic  charac- 
ter, and  he  mentions  1734  and  1735  as  being  years  of 
special  mortality.  If  the  comparative  number  of  existing 
tombstones  is  any  indication,  the  year  1711  must  also  have 
been  a  very  sickly  one.  Dr.  Dwight  also  specifies  1724, 
I75I>  i773»  J774,  i775»  J776,  i777>  *794  and  1795  as  years 
marked  by  an  unusual  number  of  deaths,  the  two  last  named 
being  still  memorable  as  the  pestilential  years  of  yellow 
fever  and  dysentery.  In  1794  out  of  a  total  population 
of  5,000  there  were  180  deaths,  of  which  64  were  from 
yellow  fever.  In  1795  there  were  750  cases  of  dysentery 
alone,  of  which  75  proved  fatal,  which  is  in  the  same  pro- 
portion as  if  in  1897  it  had  attacked  15,000  persons,  of 
whom  1,500  had  died.  The  total  mortality  in  the  two 
years  of  1794  and  1795  was  339,  which  would  be  equiva- 
lent to  6,780  in  1896  and  1897,  or  about  one-fifteenth  of  the 
whole  population.  The  ratio  of  deaths  to  the  population 
in  1794  was  36  in  every  1,000  inhabitants,  and  in  1795,  31 
in  1,000.  The  rate  at  the  present  time  is  about  19  in  1,000. 


.......J 


AS    A    BURIAL    PLACE.  273 

Former  Unsanitary  Conditions. 

Doubtless  the  ravages  of  epidemic  and  other  maladies 
was  largely  due  to  a  general  neglect  of  sanitary  conditions 
which  now  would  not  be  tolerated  for  a  day.  Garbage  and 
other  refuse  was  quite  commonly  thrown  into  the  streets. 
The  kitchen  drainage  of  nearly  every  house  was  through 
an  open  ditch  across  the  yard,  often  in  close  proximity  to 
the  well.  The  sluggish  creeks  near  George  and  State 
streets  were  the  common  sewers  for  all  the  filth  which  could 
not  otherwise  be  disposed  of,  and  the  market  house  which 
was  erected  in  1786  stood  for  several  years  directly  over 
the  creek  for  the  convenience  of  throwing  refuse  into  it. 
The  isolation  of  infectious  diseases  was  almost  wholly 
neglected,  and  so  reckless  was  the  disregard  of  public  and 
private  safety  in  this  respect,  that  had  an  isolation  hospital 
been  projected,  it  is  not  impossible,  incredible  as  it  may 
seem  in  this  age  of  the  world,  that  an  obstinate  Common 
Council  might  have  forbidden  its  erection  on  any  practica- 
ble site. 

In  the  habits  and  appointments  of  domestic  life  the 
modern  precautions  against  improvident  exposure  were 
habitually  absent.  Woolen  underclothing  was  rarely  worn 
until  after  1825.  Rubber  shoes  and  waterproof  garments 
were  unknown  and  even  umbrellas  were  a  rarity  until  after 
1800.  Before  1838  there  were  no  public  baths  in  New 
Haven.  Private  bath-rooms  were  an  unheard-of  luxury, 
and  when  a  certain  elegant  gentleman  was  pointed  out  by 
an  admirer  as  a  man  who  put  on  a  clean  shirt  every  day,  the 
astonished  auditor  exclaimed:  "He  must  be  an  aw-fully 
dirty  fellow!"  Dwelling  houses  were  only  partially  warmed 
by  great  drafty  fire-places,  and  the  bedrooms  not  at  all. 
The  meeting-houses  in  winter  were  so  cold  that  ice  formed 
in  the  baptismal  bowl,  and  the  bread  froze  on  the  com- 
munion plates.  Vaccination  was  not  introduced  until  after 
1800,  and  nearly  all  the  great  discoveries  and  important 
progress  in  sanitary  as  well  as  medical  science  have  been 
made  during  the  present  century. 
id 


274:  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN   GREEN. 

Reforms  in  Burial  Customs. 

Among  the  improvements  in  sanitary  and  social  science 
within  the  last  hundred  years  which  have  checked  the  rapid 
growth  of  graveyard  populations,  must  be  included  that 
great  step  forward  which  was  first  taken  in  New  Haven  in 
1797,  the  reformation  of  the  graveyard  itself.  Prior  to 
1800  the  custom  of  intra-mural  interment  universally  pre- 
vailed in  cities,  and  as  the  public  burial  places  were  limited 
in  area  there  could  be  no  private  ownership  in  graves  and 
no  sanctity  attached  to  them  as  resting-places  of  the  dead. 
Hence  public  cemeteries  inevitably  became  neglected  and 
unsightly,  offensive  to  the  eye,  and  detrimental  to  the 
public  health.  The  New  Haven  plan,  by  which  large  areas 
in  the  suburbs  were  divided  into  family  lots  and  converted 
into  peaceful  and  attractive  places  of  resort,  has  in  its 
development  not  only  brought  about  a  striking  alteration 
in  the  appearance  of  burial  grounds,  but  a  revolution  in 
public  sentiment  to  the  extent  of  investing  every  grave  with 
a  sacred  and  inviolable  character.  But  the  new  method 
has  its  evils  and  its  dangers  as  well  as  the  old.  It  has  been 
in  general  operation  for  hardly  two  generations,  and  already 
the  enormous  and  successive  sequestrations  of  land  in  the 
vicinity  of  our  cities  and  towns,  whereby  great  districts  are 
withdrawn  from  the  needs  of  the  living  for  the  uses  of  the 
dead,  and  the  constantly  increasing  burdens  and  expenses 
of  funerals  which  it  entails,  are  beginning  to  awaken  serious 
apprehension.  Evidently  the  time  will  come  soon,  if  it  has 
not  already,  when  some  new  system  must  be  adopted  for 
the  disposal  of  the  dead;  and  it  would  be  eminently  suitable 
if  New  Haven,  which  led  the  way  in  cemetery  improve- 
ment, should  also  be  among  the  first  to  take  the  next 
important  step  in  the  same  path  of  progress. 


AS   A    BURIAL    PLACE.  275 


The  Center  Church  Crypt. 

It  is  an  interesting  circumstance  in  the  history  of  the 
Green  as  a  burial  place  that,  amid  the  changes  which  have 
swept  out  of  existence  all  other  memorials  of  early  colonial 
days,  a  part  of  the  ancient  graveyard  still  remains  undis- 
turbed and  in  excellent  preservation.  Beneath  the  Center 
Church,  thanks  to  the  generosity  and  the  pious  care  of  our 
honored  President,  Mr.  Trowbridge,  to  whom  New  Haven 
is  indebted  for  the  perpetuation  of  much  that  is  of  historic 
value  and  antiquarian  interest,  the  generations  of  to-day 
and  of  future  years  may  behold  a  section  of  the  old  burial 
ground  on  the  Green  substantially  as  it  appeared  in  pre- 
revolutionary  times.  There  the  venerable  tombstones 
stand  intact,  placed  without  order  or  arrangement,  without 
regard  to  kinship  or  station  in  life,  but  all  alike  sheltered 
by  the  ancient  mother  church,  as  if  she  had  gathered  under 
her  wings  at  least  these  few  memorials  of  her  children  to 
preserve  them  from  the  ruthless  hands  of  change  and 
oblivion. 

Nor  was  her  protection  superfluous,  for  of  the  nearly 
nine  hundred  persons  whose  remains  are  still  reposing  out- 
side the  church  and  whose  graves  before  1821  were  plainly 
marked  by  monuments,  there  are  hardly  half  a  dozen 
whose  resting-places  could  now  be  even  conjectured.  On 
the  lower  Green,  in  some  spot  unknown  but  supposed  to 
be  not  far  from  the  flagstaff,  lies  Isaac  Allerton,  one  of  the 
Mayflower  pilgrims  and  "the  father  of  American  com- 
merce." Near  the  northwestern  corner  of  the  Center 
Church  reposes  the  dust  of  Governor  Eaton,  mingled  with 
that  of  his  daughter  and  of  his  son-in-law,  Deputy  Governor 
Jones.  The  grave  of  Dixwell  is  still  marked  by  its  original 
tombstone,  and  so  are  the  disputed  graves  which  have  been 
assigned  to  Wigglesworth  and  Gilbert;  and  finally,  Mrs. 
Dorcas  Trowbridge,  who  died  in  1783,  is  known  to  lie 
beneath  the  crossing  of  two  footpaths  near  the  Dixwell 
monument.  But  of  all  the  other  thousands  who  are  not 


276  CHRONICLES    OF    NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

sheltered  beneath  the  church,  no  man  living  can  trace, 
or  even  guess,  the  resting-place  of  a  single  one.  We  only 
know  that  within  a  space  of  three  or  four  acres  the  bones 
of  six  generations  lie  indistinguishably  intermingled. 
Magistrates  and  criminals,  preachers,  soldiers,  merchants, 
lawyers,  doctors,  colonial  dames,  paupers  and  negro  slaves 
are  all  consorting  together  in  promiscuous  companionship. 
They  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their  works  do  follow 
them.  The  obliteration  of  their  graves  is  not  more  com- 
plete than  the  disappearance  of  the  landmarks  and  manners 
of  their  times.  Old  things  have  passed  away  and  all  things 
have  become  new. 

A  Vision  of  Past  Changes  in  the  Green. 

Like  Macaulay's  New  Zealander,  who,  seated  on  the 
ruins  of  London  Bridge,  pondered  over  the  vanished  life 
of  the  city,  we  may  fancy  a  contemplative  New  Havener, 
at  this  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  installed  on  a  bench 
near  the  Dixwell  monument,  reflecting  on  the  silent  genera- 
tions beneath  his  feet  and  recalling  the  changes  which  they 
successively  witnessed  in  the  ancient  Green  around  him. 
He  sees  in  vision  the  half-cleared  market  place  of  the  set- 
tlers, the  rude  little  meeting-house  in  its  center,  with  a  few 
rough  tombstones  half  hidden  by  weeds  at  its  side,  and  the 
humble  school-house  and  jail  and  whipping  post  not  far 
away.  He  hears  the  beat  of  a  drum,  and  sees  the  reverend 
Davenport  and  the  worshipful  Eaton,  with  their  families, 
wending  their  way  to  "the  ordinances"  along  the  causeway 
which  crosses  the  swamp.  And  again  the  drum  beats,  and 
a  crowd  gathers  about  the  whipping  post  to  see  a  Quaker 
instructed  by  its  agency  in  the  Gospel  spirit  and  truth. 
The  scene  passes,  and  another  of  the  second  and  third 
generations  comes  into  view.  The  first  meeting-house  has 
disappeared  and  a  large  one,  square  and  plain,  has  taken  its 
place.  The  graveyard  has  grown  in  size,  and  on  its  western 
edge  a  larger  school-house  and  jail  and  a  new  wooden 


AS   A   BURIAL   PLACE.  27T 

court-house  stand  in  a  homely  row.  He  sees  Whitefield 
preaching  to  excited  and  weeping  crowds  beneath  the 
Pierpont  elms,  and  troops  assembling  on  the  Green  and 
filing  into  the  meeting-house,  with  Whiting  at  their  head, 
to  receive  the  blessing  of  Heaven  before  they  start  for  the 
French  and  Indian  wars.  Again  the  scene  changes,  and 
now  the  Colonial  period  is  drawing  to  a  close.  The  plain, 
square  meeting-house  is  gone  and  a  trim  steepled  edifice 
of  brick  has  succeeded.  A  neat  white  rival  confronts  it 
on  the  north  and  in  its  rear  a  large  brick  court-house  com- 
pletes a  dignified  line.  The  graveyard  is  packed  with 
monuments  and  has  been  enclosed  with  a  substantial  fence, 
and  the  surrounding  square  is  unsightly  with  weeds  and 
barberry  bushes,  and  traversed  by  straggling  wheel  tracks. 
The  jail  is  still  standing  and  so  is  the  old  wooden  court- 
house at  the  northwest  corner,  and  in  front  of  it  Arnold 
is  marshalling  the  Foot  Guard  and  demanding  powder 
for  their  march  to  Boston.  They  pass  on  their  way,  and 
now  the  Green  is  crowded  with  British  troops,  drunk 
and  disorderly,  bivouacking  around  the  buildings  and 
among  the  graves.  This  scene  also  fades,  and  in  the  next 
a  wonderful  transformation  appears.  It  is  the  year  of 
grace  1850,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United 
States  the  74th.  The  Green  has  become  the  famous  orna- 
ment and  pride  of  a  thriving  city  and  on  its  central  flagstaff 
floats  the  banner  of  the  world's  greatest  and  most  power- 
ful Republic.  All  the  old  landmarks  have  disappeared. 
The  colonial  meeting-houses  and  court-houses,  the  jail,  the 
school-house  and  even  the  graveyard — all  are  gone.  Three 
handsome  churches  are  ranged  symmetrically  from  north 
to  south,  and  a  majestic  Parthenon  rears  its  stately  form 
where  the  rude  jail  and  school-house  stood  two  generations 
before.  The  well-kept  square  is  fenced  and  graded  and 
laid  out  with  walks,  and  overarching  rows  of  graceful  elms 
cast  their  shadows  across  its  verdant  lawns.  Young  men 
and  boys  are  romping  over  it  in  their  sports  and  all  signs 
tell  of  peace  and  prosperity.  But  all  at  once  the  sky  is 


278  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW    HAVEN    GREEN. 

darkened  by  the  clouds  of  civil  war.  Flags  fly  from  the 
steeples  and  the  square  is  covered  with  drilling  squads 
and  marching  regiments,  and  for  a  time  there  is  an  atmos- 
phere of  anxiety  and  gloom.  Twenty-five  years  roll  by. 
Again  the  sun  shines  brightly  forth.  Peace  and  tran- 
quility  have  returned,  but  New  Haven  is  a  State  capital 
no  longer,  and  lo!  there  is  a  vision  of  crowds  collecting  in 
front  of  the  now  deserted  and  crumbling  Parthenon,  and 
gazing  with  bated  breath  while  ropes  are  attached  to  its 
classic  portico.  The  ropes  are  strained!  The  fabric 
totters!  It  falls  with  a  thundering  crash,  and  the  dreamer 
awakes  with  a  start  from  his  reverie  to  the  sights  and 
sounds  of  a  modern  metropolis.  Newsboys  are  scream- 
ing extras  with  the  latest  telegrams  from  Cuba  and  Spain. 
Electric  cars  are  humming  past  on  every  side.  Bicyclists 
by  scores  are  flitting  in  all  directions.  A  horseless  carriage 
goes  panting  along  its  odorous  way  and  the  yell  and  roar 
of  an  express  train  are  heard  in  the  distance.  A  German, 
a  Frenchman  and  a  Swede  are  crowding  him  in  his 
bench.  A  Chinaman  is  passing  with  a  bundle  of  laundry 
work.  Italian  fruit  venders  and  Russian  rag  dealers  are 
pushing  their  carts  with  unintelligible  cries.  An  Armenian 
is  peddling  rugs.  A  gang  of  Hungarians  and  Poles  are 
digging  up  the  streets.  Two  Japanese  students  are  chat- 
tering on  an  adjoining  seat,  and  an  Irish  policeman  is 
watching  him  suspiciously,  evidently  considering  whether 
he  is  drunk  enough  to  warrant  "pulling  him  in."  He  rises 
to  depart.  He  leaves  the  dead  past  with  its  buried  dead; 
and  he  realizes  that  New  Haven  has  entered  on  a  new  career 
of  civilization  as  varied  as  science  and  as  wide  as  mankind, 
and  that  its  old-time  quaintness,  simplicity  and  homogen- 
eity will  be  seen  no  more  forever. 

The  "Chronicles  of  the  Green"  are  ended. 


NOTES  TO  PAPER  No.  VIII. 


NOTE  i  (page  261). 

Dr.  Stiles  gives  a  picture  of  the  tombstone  in  which  the  "deeply 
cut  line  under  the  M"  is  made  very  conspicuous.  Mr.  Barber  furnishes 
a  corroborative  representation  of  the  underscored  initial;  and  in  all 
the  discussions  about  the  tombstone  the  line  under  the  M  has  not  been 
questioned.  Yet  when  the  stone  was  taken  up  soon  after  the  reading 
of  this  paper  no  such  line  could  be  discovered.  The  inscription  is  now 
in  plain  view  and  those  interested  can  examine  it  for  themselves. 

NOTE  2  (page  261). 

I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Henry  Trowbridge  that  in  excavating  the 
trench  for  a  water  pipe  which  enters  the  southeast  corner  of  the  Center 
Church  "there  were  found  fragments  of  several  stones  of  the  Gilbert 
family."  This  statement  corroborates  the  idea  that  Matthew  Gilbert's 
tombstone  disappeared  when  the  Brick  Meeting-house  was  built,  for  the 
trench  ran  across  ground  which  was  covered  by  that  edifice. 

NOTE  3  (page  263). 

When  this  paper  was  read  (April  27,  1898)  the  M.  G.  stone  was  half 
buried  in  the  ground  about  five  feet  west  of  the  northwest  corner  of 
the  coping  around  the  Dixwell  Monument.  By  request  of  the  N.  H. 
Colony  Historical  Society,  adopted  after  the  reading  of  the  paper,  the 
stone  was  removed  April  30,  1898,  to  a  spot  within  the  iron  fence 
referred  to.  That  such  removal  was  a  matter  of  prudence  is  evident 
from  a  statement  made  by  Mr.  Henry  Trowbridge,  that  about  thirty 
years  ago  the  stone  was  actually  taken  up  by  a  mason  "to  be  broken  up 
for  a  foundation  for  the  town  safe,  then  being  set  up  in  the  State 
House."  The  relic  was  rescued  just  in  time  by  Mr.  T.  and  replaced 
in  its  previous  position. 


NOTE  4  (page  268). 

Mourning  rings  were  in  common  use  in  Boston  and  Eastern  Massa- 
chusetts, and  from  that  quarter  made  their  way  into  Rhode  Island  and 
Eastern  Connecticut.  In  New  Haven  they  were  furnished  after  the 
death  of  President  Clap,  who  came  here  from  Windham,  Conn.,  and 
the  will  of  Col.  John  Hubbard,  who  died  in  1773,  provided  for  their 
distribution.  There  may  have  been  other  cases. 


280  CHRONICLES    OF   NEW   HAVEN    GREEN. 

NOTE  5  (page  268). 

In  1775  Abigail  Adams  wrote  to  her  husband  in  Philadelphia: 
"Purchase  me  a  bundle  of  pins  and  put  them  in  your  trunk  for  me — the 
ciy  for  pins  is  so  great  that  what  I  used  to  buy  for  seven  shillings  and 
sixpence  are  now  twenty  shillings  and  not  to  be  had  for  that — a  bundle 
contains  six  thousand,  for  which  I  used  to  give  a  dollar,  but  if  you  can 
procure  them  for  fifty  shillings  or  three  pounds,  pray  let  me  have  them." 


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